Sure. But it's not. Although there are clearly many similarities between OCD and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), the two are in fact quite different and treatment needs to reflect that.
In DSM-5, BDD is now classified under the new category “obsessive–compulsive and related disorders”, along with obsessive–compulsive disorder, trichotillomania, hoarding disorder, and excoriation disorder.
DSM-5 classifies BDD in the chapter of “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders,” along with OCD and several other disorders.
There are two subtypes of BDD: Muscle Dysmorphia and BDD by Proxy. Both of these subtypes appear to respond to the same basic treatment strategies as BDD (cognitive behavior therapy or CBT and medications). However, the CBT therapist in particular needs to adjust the treatment so that it has the right focus.
While the focus of obsessions and compulsions in OCD can vary greatly (such as contamination, the death of a loved one, symmetry, guilt, violence, sexuality), the symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder are focused solely on one's appearance or body.
Without treatment, body dysmorphic disorder has the potential to disrupt your life severely. Self-harm or suicide are also more common among people living with untreated BDD. Up to 80% of people with BDD have suicidal thoughts, and 1 in 4 people with BDD attempt suicide.
Because OCD itself has been hypothesized to be an affective spectrum disorder, BDD may be more narrowly conceptualized as an obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder and more broadly as a candidate form of affective spectrum disorder.
Body dysmorphia is related to an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but it is often misdiagnosed. If you have it, you may feel an urgent need to perform certain rituals or routines (compulsions) like checking a mirror or avoiding one. Body dysmorphia can affect anyone.
There are other mental health disorders that are common in people with BDD. They include obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
Like many other mental health conditions, body dysmorphic disorder may result from a combination of issues, such as a family history of the disorder, negative evaluations or experiences about your body or self-image, and abnormal brain function or abnormal levels of the brain chemical called serotonin.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), also known as dysmorphophobia, is an underrecognized yet relatively common and severe mental disorder that occurs around the world.
It's estimated that BDD may affect around 1-2% of the population. Professor David Castle, from the University of Melbourne, says his research has found that people with BDD look at themselves and others in a different way. "They over-scrutinise themselves and others. For instance, they'll over-scrutinise their nose.
Body dysmorphia is considered a mental illness. And if conditions meet, it can be legally class as a disability. It's wrongfully believed that people with body dysmorphia are vain, egotistic, or self-obsessed. It's a mental health condition which can dictate a person's entire life.
BDD has both psychotic and nonpsychotic variants, which are classified as separate disorders in DSM-IV (delusional disorder and a somatoform disorder).
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is an anxiety disorder related to body image.
According to the DSM-5 body dysmorphic definition specifically refers to a mental health disorder belonging to the obsessive-compulsive spectrum.
Surveys have put BDD at about 2% of the population. It is more common in adolescents and young people. Body Dysmorphic Disorder usually develops in adolescence, a time when people are generally most sensitive about their appearance.
To put in simpler terms, a person with gender dysphoria is not mentally ill; they are dissatisfied with the gender assigned at their birth. A person with body dysmorphia has a disorder in which they perceive their body or face as “ugly,” “fat,” or otherwise unattractive despite medical or personal reassurances.
One problem is that many people who actually have BDD don't realize that they do, because they think they really do look ugly, abnormal, or flawed, even though they actually don't in the eyes of others.
Primarily obsessional OCD has been called "one of the most distressing and challenging forms of OCD." People with this form of OCD have "distressing and unwanted thoughts pop into [their] head frequently," and the thoughts "typically center on a fear that you may do something totally uncharacteristic of yourself, ...
Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) exhibit distorted perception and negative evaluations of their own appearance; however, little is known about how they perceive others' appearance, and whether or not the conditions share perceptual distortions.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a prevalent and often destructive mental illness that is often strongly associated with unresolved trauma.
A brain network analysis of white matter connectivity in individuals with BDD compared to healthy controls discovered that across the brain, individual regions were more highly connected with other local brain regions44. Also, those with more severe BDD symptoms had lower efficiency of brain connections.
People with BDD most often are concerned with “defects” on their face and head6. They constantly check their appearance in mirrors, and often scrutinize others people's faces. They tend to focus primarily on details, usually on their face, and are not able to see the “big picture” that overall they look normal.
A 2018 study conducted by researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found that patients with BDD were twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, and a 2019 study revealed that body dysmorphia is more prevalent with conditions of obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and ADHD.