Dysmorphia: when the body is not what you want it to be
Although the word tends to make you think so, dysmorphia is not a phobia, but an anxiety disorder as it has to do with the emotion of fear
In the latest edition of the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS V), dysmorphophobia is redefined as a disorder of obsessive body dysmorphism, as the obsession prevails over the phobia, which, on the contrary, manifests itself more with physical symptoms.
Body dysmorphia, what to do when the body obsesses us?
In the case of dysmorphophobia, the target of the obsession is the body (or a body part): a normal, simple physical defect becomes excessive for the sufferer (thus excluding cases of actual physical deformity).
Obsessive body disorder is fuelled by the fear of being physically inadequate and making oneself look bad in front of others: it is as if one’s defect becomes a scapegoat, a symbol of one’s own inadequacy.
The reaction is to hide that part of the body and then to correct it (e.g. with cosmetic surgery), but since there is an anxiety disorder behind it, the obsession will recur even after the defect has been corrected.
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