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Find a forehead that is too big, thighs that are too thick or arms that are too thin: these body details can become so obsessive that you convince others of them. This is called dysmorphophobia and neuropsychologist Paola Scemama Ittah talks about it for Brut.
Dysmorphophobia is a psychiatric mental disorder that leads to excessive thoughts about a defect, the perception of which the person is totally disproportionate. It is also called a body dysmorphic disorder. “It is a psychiatric disorder and not a disease. Moreover, in what is called the DSM-5, which is the diagnostic manual where we will list all mental illnesses, well, it is classified, categorized as being a disorder, both an anxiety disorder , but also an obsessive compulsive disorder”, explains Paola Scemama Ittah. Mostly, you can hear more women complaining about it than men, yet they can also be affected.
What are the factors?
In dysmorphophobia, there are various recurring biological, psychological and environmental factors. “When there is someone who suffers from dysmorphophobia, we can see it in other people of this same family. And then, at the cerebral level, several things will happen. First, there will potentially be alterations in certain areas of the brain, so those dealing with the visual and therefore with self-perception, but also in terms of mood regulation, the way we regulate our moods, how we feel and our self-esteem and anxiety”. For the psychological factor, these are traumas but also the “social pressure” which can generate this disorder. Therapies exist to cure this disorder but the process is long.