PMID: 16633443Apr 25, 2006Paper

Body dysmorphic disorder: recognizing and treating imagined ugliness.

World Psychiatry : Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA)
Katharine A Phillips

Abstract

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), also known as dysmorphophobia, is a severe psychiatric disorder that occurs around the world. However, the diagnosis is usually missed in clinical settings. It is important to recognize and diagnose BDD, because this disorder is relatively common and causes significant distress and impairment in functioning. It is also associated with markedly poor quality of life. Although research on effective treatment is still limited, serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) are currently considered the medication treatment of choice. For symptoms to improve, a relatively high SRI dose and at least 12 weeks of treatment is often needed. The psychosocial treatment of choice is cognitive behavioral therapy, consisting of elements such as exposure, response prevention, behavioral experiments, and cognitive restructuring. Although knowledge of BDD is rapidly increasing, further research is needed on all aspects of this disorder, including treatment studies, epidemiology studies, and investigation of its cross-cultural features and pathogenesis.

Related Feeds

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder is an intense preoccupation with an imagined defect in ones physical appearance. It can be a severely impairing disorder and is common among patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Discover the latest research on body dysmorphic disorder here.

Related Papers

Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience
Andri S BjornssonKatharine A Phillips
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
Katharine A Phillips, Fedra Najjar
© 2022 Meta ULC. All rights reserved