Body Dysmorphic Disorder Essay

In March 2005, findings concluded from those surveyed that three out of four Americans believe eating disorders should be covered by insurance companies just like any other illness. Americans believe that government should require insurance companies to cover the treatment of eating disorders. Four out of ten Americans either suffered or have know someone who has suffered from an eating disorder. Dieting and thrive for thinness is very common in America. Over one half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives. Commonly eating disorders are accumulated by society. The average American woman is 5'4'' tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5'11'' tall and weighs 117 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women. Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products a year! The list is never ending on the different types of eating disorders there actually are. The three most common types of eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder. Other eating disorders are mainly any combinations of the above listed. Anorexia Nervosa includes the symptoms of dramatic weight loss, dressing in layers to hide weight loss, constantly preoccupied with weight, food, calories, and dieting, makes frequent comments about

Upon reflection, I have decided to go into more research on this topic through the question of: What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder and how have print and television advertisements

     Studies have shown that over one million males are affected with anorexia nervosa yearly. (Crosscope-Happel, Hutchins, & Hayes, 2000) Some have suggested that these numbers are on the rise as the media continues to assert a more and more unattainable goal of beauty on the public.

In addition, the DSM-5, this disorder also has a high comorbidity rate with major depressive disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Another major clinical feature to this disorder is the repetitive behaviors done to help alleviate the obsessions one is having about their appearance. Some of these behaviors include seeking reassurance about their looks, excessive grooming, mirror checking, comparison to others, and trying to camouflage the perceived defect/flaw. These seem to be the most common behaviors done in association with BDD, however they are not exclusively limited to this as each individual displays the disorder uniquely to their preoccupation. In a study of 33 youths with BDD it was found that 94% camouflaged their defect, 73% sought reassurance from others, and 59% excessively groomed (Carroll et al., 2002). This disorder can become so clinically significant that many youths avoid social situations, have issues regarding school, stop working, and become isolated due to fear of how they think they look to others. On the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) it was found that a mean score of 44.9-45.7 was reported, indicated serious symptoms and impairment (Phillips & Rogers, 2011).

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, “the body type portrayed in advertising as the ideals is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females.” (“ANAD”) Body image has been a controversial theme because of the influence of the media. It is a widely known fact that eating disorder cases are on the rise. The concept of body image is a subjective matter. The common phrase, “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” holds true meaning in this sense. One’s view and value of their body is self-imposed. Falling into the destructive eating disorders reveals much about a person’s psychological and emotional state. Examining the mental, physical, and emotional conditions behind recognized eating

Demi Lovato once said, “I’m not going to sacrifice my mental health to have the perfect body.” However, today we find that many individuals are doing the completely opposite. In Susan Bordo’s, “Globalization of Eating Disorders” essay, they fall into the media trap, the self-image trap, where they are concerned of what people may think about them. Americans nowadays have pageants, modeling, and media to thank for this absurd notion. Fit women, along with strong men give this motivation to others to want to be like them. Most people should be comfortable with their own bodies. Americans are mesmerized with media and enthralled by one’s body image, and ,as a result, face ramifications like eating disorders and anorexia.

Body dysmorphic disorder or BDD is a type pf mental illness in which you can’t stop thinking about a flaw in your appearance. You intensely obsess over your appearance and body image, often for many hours a day. Your perceived flaw causes you significant distress, and your obsession impacts your ability to function in your daily life. You may seek out numerous cosmetic procedures or excessively exercise to try to "fix" your perceived flaw, but you're never satisfied. Body dysmorphic disorder is also known as dysmorphophobia, the fear of having a deformity.

This obsession can become debilitating to the point where one cannot leave the house resulting in the loss in occupation or socially. This disorder is often missed as it has close related to Eating Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and sometimes Social Anxiety. People with BDD often start to develop one of the related mental illnesses/ disorders after a time. Due to the nature of this disorder it is often dismissed until BDD becomes debilitating or develops into other relating disorders and mental illnesses. It is becoming more common for a person with BDD to look into getting plastic surgery continuously, which is giving into their body dysmorphic. Since gathering information it seems that Cognitive Behavior Therapy is most common method used to treat BDD. This disorder is evident primarily in adolescence and peaks middle

Chronic dieting, low self-esteem, depression and, high levels of body dissatisfaction were among the major issues women face when addressing their body image (Gingras, Fitzpatrick, & McCargar, 2004). The severity of body image dissatisfaction have increased to such a dangerous state that it was added to the DSM-IV as a disorder now called body dysmorphic disorder (Suissa, 2008). One of the main reasons for the prevalence of these conditions in women was due to contemporary Western media, which serve as one of the major agent in enforcing an ultra-thin figure as the ideal for female beauty (Saraceni & Russell-Mayhew, 2007). These images and models presented by the media have become the epitome of beauty, pushing women who internalized these images to dangerous extent to attain these norms. According to evidence from previous studies, contemporary Western cultures have influenced women to an acquired normative state of discontent with their bodies, which have become the source of maladaptive eating practices, negative psychological outcomes, and, chronic health conditions associated with eating disorders (Snapp, Hensley-Choate, & Ryu, 2012). The seriousness of these body image conditions among youths and women have also led to congressional actions.

Usually, the environment around the person with BDD will cause them to believe that they are not good enough. Because of this, celebrities can be the worst visual standard for people suffering from BDD since they are well known and seen as an ideal visual being. Another symptom would be that when a person would think and care about their appearance so much that it can negatively effects their life during work and school. The problem with this disorder is that they will tend to heavily criticize themselves and state how ugly they look while they are looking in the mirror. As they are worrying about their look, they try to hide and fix their ugliness behind makeup. Other symptoms include: “Having perfectionist tendencies and engaging in behaviors aimed at fixing or hiding the perceived flaw that are difficult to resist or control, such as frequently checking the mirror, grooming or skin picking” (Mayo Clinic Staff

The International OCD Foundation discovered that about 1 in 50 of the general population suffers from body dysmorphic disorder. Body dysmorphic disorder, or body dysmorphia, is a mental health condition where a person spends too much time worrying the imperfections in their appearance. Anyone can have body dysmorphia, but it is most common in teenagers and young adults.

In the article, Understanding Body Dysmorphic Disorder: An Essential Guide, Katharine defined as a condition whereby individuals feel dissatisfied with their physical appearance (12). This condition is caused by brain differences, genes, and environment. An abnormal brain anatomy might play a huge role in making people susceptible to this health condition. People with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (B.D.D) have been known to inherit the conditions from their parents. Environmental factors such as culture contribute to making a person develop the dysmorphic disorder. These environments usually contain negative social interactions with people who make funny comments about an individual's physical appearance.

In teenagers, BDD will eventually take over their life. Teens are influenced by something called the “buy me, wear me, be me” phenomenon. This message is put out by the stars in Hollywood, as well as all over the world in things like New York Fashion Week, and fashion shows all around the world featuring celebrities that are generally characterized as flawless. Everyone wants the celebrity body that has been photo shopped to look absolutely perfect with nonexistent body fat. This is something that needs particular attention especially when dealing with the puberty years when the body is trying to make your body in to an adult with the voice changes, and the ever so lovely, acne; this is when the teenager’s life can begin to turn upside down. In teenage boys, body image is something that is relatively the same. In boys, the problem is not only that they are not thin enough for the outside world, there is also a problem with not being muscular enough, spawning the disorder off of Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder, or MDD. MDD is a disorder much like BDD; however, it focuses on the muscles only. This disorder makes boys crave the body of the world’s models. This need to look like a bodybuilder is spawned by the media. When certain ads are on television, they make us feel like we could ultimately achieve that same look as they have which in all reality, results like the one’s shown on television are not typical. This feeling makes teenage boys start eating larger portions of food and start lifting more weights that could potentially injure him. Typically, feelings such as this make the boy engage in potentially destructive activities such as engage in performance enhancing drugs. These compounds include anabolic steroids and human growth hormone which can be purchased over the internet illegally” (Knobloch,

It makes the idea even more ridiculous. Body Dysmorphia has been a pathological medical diagnosis for years. But forget that. We will now regard certain conditions as perfectly normal—conditions we once used medical science to treat and cure. So our cultural ship has now suddenly changed course. Instead of healing such conditions, we will now simply ignore them medically, denying that they are pathologies, or we will use medical science to actually support and intensify them, even if that means surgically removing perfectly good organs and limbs.

BDD or also known as body dysmorphic disorder is something that we struggle with whether we know it or not. The purpose of this book is to know that it exists, how to identify it and how to treat it. BDD causes people like you and I to be obsessed by perceived flaws in their appearance. There are different types of BDD disorders some more severe than other causing everyday life to be almost nonexistent.