Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T14:50:24.189Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Phenomenology and Case Descriptions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

Fugen A. Neziroglu
Affiliation:
Hofstra University, New York
Jose A. Yaryura-Tobias
Affiliation:
Bio-Behavioral Psychiatry, New York

Extract

Thirteen cases of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) were described. There were eight males (61.5%) and five females (38.5%) with ages ranging from 16 to 37 (mean=24.7). All patients were also diagnosed as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), according to DSM-III-R, with the exception of one. Patients were administered the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Wechsler Intelligence Scale, Over-valued Ideation Scale and MMPI. The Phenomenology of BDD, its relationship to OCD, and the patients' responses to the above tests were reported. Due to the bizarreness of the symptoms and the secretiveness of the patients, it was suggested that clinicians be thoroughly aware of the disorder and inquire as to its presence during the initial consultation. Otherwise, these patients go unnoticed and they resort to treatment from dermatologists and plastic surgeons.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Braddock, L. E. (1982). Dysmorphophobia in adolescence: a case report. British Journal of Psychiatry 140, 199201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carey, R. J., Baer, L. and Jenike, M. A. (1986). MMPI correlates of obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 47, 371372.Google ScholarPubMed
Crisp, A. H. (1981). Dysmorphophobia and the search for cosmetic surgery. British Medical Journal 282, 10991100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS-III-R). (1987) (3rd Ed. -Revised). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Edgerton, M. T., Jacobson, W. E. and Meyer, E. (1960). Surgical psychiatric study of patients seeking plastic (cosmetic) surgery: ninety-eight consecutive patients with minimal deformity. British Journal of Plastic Surgery 13, 136145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foa, E. B. and Steketee, G. (1979). Obsessive compulsives: conceptual issues and treatment interventions. Progress in Behavior Modification 8, 153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, W. K., Price, L. H., Rasmussen, S. A., Mazure, C., Fleischmann, R. L., Hill, C. L., Heninger, G. R. and Charney, D. S. (1989). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. Archives of General Psychiatry 46, 10061011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardy, G. E. and Cotterill, J. A. (1982). A study of depression and obsessionality in dysmorphobia and psoriatic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 140, 1922.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, G. G. (1970a). Dysmorphophobia. British Journal of Psychiatry 116, 399406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hay, G. G. (1970b). Psychiatric aspects of cosmetic nasal operations. British Journal of Psychiatry 116, 8597.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hay, G. G. (1983). Paranoia and dysmorphophobia. British Journal of Psychiatry 142, 309310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollander, E., Liebowitz, M. R., Winchel, R., Klumker, A. and Klein, D. (1989). Treatment of body dysmorphic disorder with serotonin reuptake blockers. American Journal of Psychiatry 146, 768770.Google ScholarPubMed
Morselli, E. (1886). Sulla dismorfofobia e sulla tafefobia (On dysmorphophobia and on phobias). Bolletinno della Accademia di Genova 6, 110119.Google Scholar
Neziroglu, F. A. and Yaryura-Tobias, J. A. (1991). Over and Over Again: Understanding Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. New York: Marcel Dekker.Google Scholar
Neziroglu, F. A. and Yaryura-Tobias, J. A. (1992). Body dysmorphic disorder: treatment issues and association to obsessive compulsive disorder. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Phillips, K. A. (1991). Body dysmorphic disorder: the distress of imagined ugliness. American Journal of Psychiatry 148, 11381148.Google ScholarPubMed
Thomas, C. S. (1984). Anorexia and dysmorphophobia. British Journal of Psychiatry 150, 406413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yaryura-Tobias, J. A., Patito, J. A., Mizrahi, J., Roger, R. V. and Cappelletti, S. R. (1974). The action of pimozide on acute psychosis. Acta Psychiatrica Belgica 74, 421429.Google ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.