Body Dysmorphic Disorder

The main characteristic of Body Dysmorphic is a chronic preoccupation with an imaginary flaw in physical appearance.

The diagnostic criteria for Body Dysmorphic Disorder includes the following:

• Preoccupation with an imagined defect in appearance. If a slight physical anomaly is present, the person's concern is markedly excessive.

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

• The preoccupation is not better accounted for by another mental disorder (e.g., dissatisfaction with body shape and size in Anorexia Nervosa).

Conversion symptoms are related to voluntary motor or sensory functioning and are thus referred to as "pseudoneurological." Motor symptoms or deficits include impaired coordination or balance, paralysis or localized weakness, aphonia, difficulty swallowing or a sensation of a lump in the throat, and urinary retention. Sensory symptoms or deficits include loss of touch or pain sensation, double vision, blindness, deafness, and hallucinations. Symptoms may also include seizures or convulsions.

The more medically naive the person, the more implausible are the presenting symptoms. More sophisticated persons tend to have more subtle symptoms and deficits that may closely simulate neurological or other general medical conditions

Diagnostic criteria summarized from:

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.