Body Dysmorphic Disorder 
a very misunderstood disorder 

The perception of beauty

Body Dysmorphic Disorder - BDD

Reading newspapers and magazines, you would be justified in thinking that Body Dysmorphic Disorder is either the 'It Disorder' of the day or an infliction that confines people to darkened rooms to live out their days alone in misery. The relationship between BDD, cosmetic surgery and psychology can be complicated. As someone with experience of all of the above, I have a unique understanding of this problem. 

I write my own blog on BDD and you can find that here: http://www.dysmorphicconfessions.blogspot.co.uk
Please feel free to share your blog too. 

Self-help groups are available. Please contact us for more information on where to find them. 

You are not legally obliged to accept a psychological screening or assessment for BDD or any other mental health issue when considering cosmetic surgery. 

We do not charge for our services but we do rely on donations so please feel free to donate here if you have gained something valuable from our services. 

DSM-IV
Diagnostic and Statistics Manual v.-iv

The American Psychiatric Association produces a Diagnostic and Statistics Manual which gets revised every few years. Recently we had v.V released.  The definition of BDD offered here comes from v.iv published in 1994. 


Body Dysmorphic Disorder  is classification no. 300.7. 

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 distrss 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.

Did you know..?

Enrique Morselli, an Italian psychiatrist,  first recognized dysmorphophobia over a hundred years ago. 

Emil Kraepelin, a German psychiatrist, later described it as a mental malfunction leading to a beauty-based hypochondriasis.

Pierre Janet, the French founder of Modern Dynamic Psychology living in the late 1800s, called this body obsession ‘de la honte de corps’.  That translates as 'obsession with the shame of the body'.

Sigmund Freud described a patient who was so preoccupied with his nose that he found it hard to function outside of these obsessive thoughts, avoiding all public working life. The ‘Wolf Man’ had all the classic symptoms of BDD.

DSM III 1980 dysmorphophobia

DSM III-R 1987 - body dysmorphic disorder

DSM-IV 1994

DSM-V 2013

Further reading: 
Dr Katherine Phillips - international expert on BDD and author of The Broken Mirror.