Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu! If you go there, there are several plastic surgery clinics in one building. In fact, every time I visit Korea, I visit a plastic surgeon at least once. A few years ago, I also had Botox, because I also want to look younger.

Everyone wants to look cool and pretty. However, there are people who find a very small abnormality in a body part on their own even though there is no problem in the body part or feel that they have a defect even though they look normal. So, they avoid social exposure or undergo plastic surgery repeatedly to improve their appearance.

People with body dysmorphic disorder are obsessively preoccupied with imaginary bodily defects or minor defects. And it is a mental disorder in which people think they are ugly and try to hide their flaws or transform their bodies. This disorder is classified as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in that obsessions and compulsions are linked.

 

Diagnosis of Body Dysmorphic Disorder:

According to DSM-5, Body Dysmorphic Disorder is diagnosed as follows.

 

A.    Preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance that are not observable or appear slight to others.

B.    At some point during the course of the disorder, the individual has performed repetitive behaviors (e.g., mirror checking, excessive grooming, skin picking, reassurance seeking) or mental acts (e.g., comparing his or her appearance with that of others) in response to the appearance concerns.

C.    The preoccupation causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other areas of functioning.

D.   The appearance preoccupation is not better explained by concerns with body fat or weight in an individual whose symptoms meet diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder.

Specify if:

·        With muscle dysmorphia: The individual is preoccupied with the idea that his or her body build is too small or insufficiently muscular. This specifier is used even if the individual is preoccupied with other body areas, which is often the case.

Specify if:

·        Indicate degree of insight regarding body dysmorphic disorder beliefs (e.g., “I look ugly” or “I look deformed”).

o   With good or fair insight: The individual recognizes that the body dysmorphic disorder beliefs are definitely or probably not true or that they may or may not be true.

o   With poor insight: The individual thinks that the body dysmorphic beliefs are probably true.

o   With absent insight/delusional beliefs: The individual is completely convinced that the body dysmorphic beliefs are true.

 

Symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder:

People with this disorder are usually overly concerned with wrinkles, scars, acne, and blemishes on their skin. Also, over-focus on body hair and hair, face size and shape, nose, eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes, muscles, penis, chest, thighs, and shape of hip. They are also sensitive to body odors. For this reason, they spend a lot of time looking in the mirror countless times, scratching their skin, and repeatedly trying to hide their perceived flaws in their body. They always check, identify, and measure their flaws, and repeatedly ask others about their flaws. Going a step further, they tend to avoid public places and meet other people in order to hide these flaws, feeling anxious and avoiding them. In some cases, they visit plastic surgeons and dermatologists for repeated consultation and plastic surgery. And this is repeated over and over and they fall into plastic surgery addiction. Eventually, they can't stop focusing on their physical flaws, and they experience problems at work, school, or relationships with people.

 

Causes of Body dysmorphic disorder:

Body dysmorphic disorder is a chronic (long-term) disorder that affects men and women equally. It usually begins in adolescence or early adulthood. 40% of people with disabilities are men and 60% are women.

The exact cause of body dysmorphic disorder is not known. According to one theory, the disorder is related to the area of ​​the brain that processes information about appearance. Body dysmorphic disorder frequently occurs in people with other mental health disorders, such as major depression and anxiety. This fact supports the biological basis for this disorder.

In addition, childhood traumatic events or experiences of emotional conflict, low self-esteem, parents or acquaintances, peers’ excessive criticism of the appearance and social tendencies to equate appearance with beauty and values, etc. affect the development of body dysmorphic disorder. In addition, family history and a perfectionist personality, and mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression increase the risk of this disorder.

 

Complications associated with body dysmorphic disorder:

When people with body dysmorphic disorder become excessively self-conscious about their flaws, they cannot go out in public places and experience social isolation. This has a negative impact on school and work life. In other words, this phenomenon can cause social anxiety disorder or social phobia. They are at higher risk of major depression and higher risk of suicide. Additionally, people with this disorder may suffer from plastic surgery. Of course, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorder, and substance abuse problems can coexist.

 

Body dysmorphic disorder treatment:

Counseling: Counselling focuses on changing the thinking (cognitive therapy) and behavior (behavioral therapy) of a person with this disorder. The goal is to correct false beliefs about flaws and minimize compulsive behavior.

Medications: For the treatment of this disorder, antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that are effective in controlling negative thoughts and repetitive behaviors and antipsychotics such as Aripiparazole (Abilify), Olanzapine (Zyprexa), or Pimozide (Orap) (alone or in combination with SSRIs) can be used. However, no drug has been officially approved by the FDA for the treatment of body dysmorphic disorder.

Group and/or family therapy: It is recommended that family members learn to understand body dysmorphic disorder and to recognize its signs and symptoms. Providing support for family members with disabilities is very important in the treatment of this disorder.

Korean society is a society that attaches great importance to appearance and values. The fact that countless plastic surgery and dermatology clinics are located on the most expensive land in Seoul proves this. Many people compare themselves to handsome people on TV and YouTube. They feel ashamed of their appearance and try to hide their weakness and keep it a secret. It is known that about 5 million people in the United States suffer from this disorder. What about Korea? The tendency of this disorder to hide one's physical weakness and the appearance-oriented Korean society create many plastic surgeons and dermatologists, and in some cases allow illegal cosmetic procedures. From this, it can be inferred that there are countless people living with this disorder hidden.

 

It doesn't have to be pretty! No muscle needed! I just want myself to be good! I just hope that others will accept, acknowledge, like, and love who I am! I wish a day like this would come!

 

But first of all, I have to come to my own freedom from someone else's point of view. Let's get out of our inferiority complex and low self-esteem! To do that, I must first acknowledge and love myself! Let me love myself before anyone loves me! Then others will love me too!