Body dysmorphic disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental disorder which involves a disturbed body image. The central feature of BDD is that persons who are afflicted with it are excessively dissatisfied with their body because of a perceived physical defect. An example would be a man who is extremely worried that his nose is too big, although other people don't notice anything unusual about it.

BDD and other disorders

Note that, according to the DSM criteria, a BDD diagnosis cannot be made if another disorder accounts for the preoccupation with a perceived defect. For instance, people who worry excessively about their weight are not considered to have BDD if this preoccupation is accounted for by an eating disorder. Body dysmorphic disorder is also considered to be different from gender identity disorder and transsexualism, even though the desire to modify one's body is also reflected in people who are judged to have these disorders. Some paraphilias also involve a wish to modify one's body. For example, people with apotemnophilia are convinced that a part of their body needs to be amputated.

Related Topics:
Eating disorder - Gender identity disorder - Transsexual - Paraphilia - Apotemnophilia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the medical community, some make links between BDD and obsessive-compulsive disorder because there are some similarities between these disorders. For instance, obsessive thoughts are a common symptom of both disorders.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~