Demographic Characteristics, Phenomenology, Comorbidity, and Family History in 200 Individuals With Body Dysmorphic Disorder

• Published in: Psychosomatics (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 46; no. 4; pp. 317 - 325
• Main Authors: Phillips, Katharine A., Menard, William, Fay, Christina, Weisberg, Risa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Elsevier Inc 01.07.2005; American Psychiatric Press; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age of Onset; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Comorbidity; Delusions - diagnosis; Delusions - epidemiology; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Personality Disorders - epidemiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Somatoform Disorders - diagnosis; Somatoform Disorders - epidemiology; Somatoform Disorders - psychology; Somatoform disorders. Psychosomatics; Human; Awareness; Clinical form; Social adjustment; Dysmorphophobia; Suicide attempt; Phenomenology; Family story; Symptomatology; Concomitant disease; Age of onset; Somatoform disorder; Mental disorder; Insight; Typology; Suicide ideation; Antecedent
• ISSN: 0033-3182; 1545-7206
• DOI: 10.1176/appi.psy.46.4.317

The authors examined characteristics of body dysmorphic disorder in the largest sample for which a wide range of clinical features has been reported. The authors also compared psychiatrically treated and untreated subjects. Body dysmorphic disorder usually began during adolescence, involved numerous body areas and behaviors, and was characterized by poor insight, high comorbidity rates, and high rates of functional impairment, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. There were far more similarities than differences between the currently treated and untreated subjects, although the treated subjects displayed better insight and had more comorbidity.