Body Dimorphic Disorder- the Fear of Imagined Deformity

Body dimorphic Disorder- The fear of Imagined deformity

At which point does concern over one’s appearance morph from what is considered socially normal and cross into what is called Body Dysmophic Disorder?

Randolph Davidson

Huston Community College

Introduction to Psychology 101

Research paper final

Abstract:

Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD is common mental illness that often begin as a slow onset, as the illness progresses the person’s life becomes increasingly compromised and restricted, onset may be at any age however, most suffers begin showing signs at around the preteen years. First pegged as “dysmorphophobia” by the Italian Psychiatrist Enrique Morselli more than a century ago, today it is listed in the DSMV as a somatoform disorder which is normally mistaken for other illnesses often continuing to be unrecognized and untreated in clinical settings. This creates a major problem for those that suffer with BDD as suffers normally have largely impaired social functioning, a high rate of suicidal thoughts and attempts. The goal of this paper intends to bring the reader to a full understanding of BDD, including the symptoms, case examples, treatments, long term effects and examples for how to convince a patient to accept psychiatric care and treatment.

So, to begin, we have a small understanding of what BDD is however, we must ask the question at which point does concern over one’s appearance morph from what is considered normal and become the all too real illness of B.D.D and what causes this? Sadly, there is no real straightforward answer to that question, however, the most basic underlining effect of BDD on suffers is in which he or she becomes overly excessive with a perceived deformity in a body part or parts of their body that are seemingly invisible to others or in some case even if there is a deformity or marking of some type it is normally small and unnoticeable to those other than the suffer of BDD who perceives said marking as...