Dysmorphophobia or “body dysmorphic disorder” is a pathology that goes beyond obsession with beauty and body image. This excessive preoccupation is the order of the day in a society that gives more importance than it should to youth, aesthetics and health, putting these three factors on the same level.
Who is affected by “body dysmorphic disorder”?
This obsession is more frequent in those people who are more influenced by others. Such influences are spread by the media and by social peer pressure, especially in young people. Moreover, this tendency has become equalized between the sexes: what was more common in girls a few years ago has reached the same role in boys.
How dysmorphophobia affects everyday life
Body dysmorphic disorder”, formerly known as dysmorphophobia, is more than a preoccupation with beauty. It is a disabling clinical condition in which the sufferer feels an intense preoccupation with the “defects” of their physique, practically insignificant to others.
This obsession occupies between three and eight hours a day and it is very difficult for the sufferer to resist and control it. In addition, these people develop behaviors and mental acts such as constant excessive and repeated self-checking.
Those who suffer from dysmorphophobia present a constant discomfort that undermines their self-esteem, hindering all areas of their lives.
Muscle dysmorphophobia or vigorexia
A type of “body dysmorphic disorder” is muscular dysmorphophobia or vigorexia, in which the individual has a distorted vision of him/herself, perceiving him/herself as weak and puny. This leads him to modify his diet to extreme limits in order to gain more muscle mass, to perform excessive physical exercise and to neglect other areas of his life.
Causes and symptoms of dysmorphophobia
This disease is related to the environment, in addition to genetic and physiological factors. For example, high rates of neglect and abuse in childhood and prevalence in the first-degree family of obsessive-compulsive disorder and serotonin disturbances.
The main symptom is altered thinking to the point of delirium and even disturbed self-perception: the individual is totally certain of the presence of a physical defect that to others is invaluable or non-existent. These people constantly look at themselves in the mirror and repeatedly ask their relatives about their “defects”.
In fact, since 2013 it has been considered part of obsessive-compulsive disorder given the characteristics of the thinking and rituals carried out. It is also frequently associated with major depressive disorder.
Psychological and environmental elements that may influence the origin of this disorder are:
- Low self-esteem. This can be the origin or a consequence of the disorder.
- Family and environment. If the individual has grown up in an environment in which the physique has taken center stage, or if he or she has ever felt rejected because of any of his or her bodily characteristics.
- The “fashionable body”. If the individual’s body bears little resemblance to the supposed ideal body for his or her environment, he or she may feel rejected.
- Shallow society. The cult of image and appearance are two very important aspects, even associated with happiness, in today’s society. As a result, the slimming, fitness, “bio”, etc. companies were born.
Diagnosis of dysmorphophobia
The “key” to know if this obsession with the physique is pathological is that it harms the other areas of the person’s life: academic results, work, family and social relationships… Almost all those affected by this mental illness present an altered psychosocial functioning due to “unrealistic” concerns about their appearance, being able to avoid relationships with others.
Treatment of dysmorphophobia
- For the most severe cases presenting obsessive thinking, depressive syndromes or phobias, psychopharmacological treatment is administered.
- In order to bring the affected person “back to reality”, self-esteem is worked on and the patient is motivated to face social relationships, leaving aside physical self-esteem, a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is carried out.
Psychiatric specialists state that the key to reducing the prevalence of this disorder is to learn to put aside the superficiality of today’s society. For this, the ideal would be an education based on respect for individual differences and appreciating the values of the human being beyond appearance.
The role of plastic surgeons in the face of Body Dysmorphic Disorder
When a patient with body dysmorphic disorder goes to a specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, it often happens that the surgeon realizes that the defect that the individual points out is “imaginary” and tends to discourage the intervention, since surgery does not usually improve the patient’s self-image.