Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

There is nothing in this carnal world that we can ascribe as being perfect. Nothing is perfect and we should not seek perfection. This is the problem with people suffering from body dysmorphic disorder. They have completely failed to accept that no one is perfect, and as far as I am concerned, this is a mental disease. It is an illness whereby a person is completely preoccupied with trying to pick out all the flaws in the skin or body and correct them.

It involves an obsession with minor, imaginary and even insignificant flaws in your nose, hair, skin, fingers, and face. In most cases, people with this disorder tend to undertake skin treatments including surgery. They always end up being unsatisfied with all this. It is more of a thing of the mind than that of the physical. This condition has the potential to distract from other activities like studying, eating and working, because they simply develop a fixation with a perceived flawed part of the body.

Symptoms

Whenever, a person is preoccupied with minor flaws that can only be imaginary in the body. This elicits emotional responses such as stress and anxiety about the body part and continually touching it. Other symptoms of this ailment include low self esteem, spending excess time looking in the mirror or avoiding the mirror entirely, seeking assurances from others that they look good, skin picking, the use of the hands, hats or even posture to try and cover the perceived affected areas so as to block people from seeing them.

They also develop serious anxiety in public due to issues of acne, scarring, pale skin, thinning hair, excessive body hair, a large nose, etc. Another symptom of this is when people are excessively interested in surgery to correct body defects. This might lead to them being addicted to surgery if their first experience impresses them, or developing a serious hatred for surgery if they don't feel satisfied.

Causes

There might not be very serious and pronounced causes for this, but it can be ascribed authoritatively to chemical imbalances in the body, which might include a low level of serotonin, etc. There are also some eating disorders which can help develop this, which include bulimia and anorexia. They are also caused and developed by obsessive compulsive disorder and its generalized compulsive disorder brother. Depression of any type and any degree can also cause this. Agoraphobia might be yet another cause.

This is a sickness that makes people develop fear for certain places and situations like sailing in a ship, no matter how small the water may be. It is also caused by the compulsion to be twirling or pulling ones hair, a condition known as trichotillomania.

Treatment

The treatment is both medical, and more importantly therapeutic. Medical treatment will include the use of antidepressants like Zoloft, Prozac or Paxil. Psychotherapy that focuses on trying to change the thinking and behavioral patterns of affected people can also be used.

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