Beauty and the Beast: Psychobiologic and Evolutionary Perspectives on Body Dysmorphic Disorder

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 419-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan J. Stein ◽  
Paul D. Carey ◽  
James Warwick
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Facial Expression ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Body Dysmorphic Disorder ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
The Body ◽  
Beauty And The Beast ◽  
Affective Processes ◽  
Expression Processing ◽  
Evolutionary Perspectives

ABSTRACTBody dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterized by preoccupation with a defect in appearance. Concepts of beauty play a particularly crucial role in humans' mental and social life, and may have specific psychobiologic and evolutionary underpinnings. In particular, there is a growing literature on the neurocircuitry underpinning the body schema, body image and facial expression processing, and aesthetic and symmetry judgments. Speculatively, disruptions in cognitive-affective processes relevant to judgments about physical beauty lead to BDD.

Body Schema and Body Image

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Body Dysmorphic Disorder ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Neural Activities ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Influential Book ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors

Body schema refers to the system of sensory-motor functions that enables control of the position of body parts in space, without conscious awareness of those parts. Body image refers to a conscious representation of the way the body appears—a set of conscious perceptions, affective attitudes, and beliefs pertaining to one’s own bodily image. In 2005, Shaun Gallagher published an influential book entitled ‘How the Body Shapes the Mind’. This book not only defined both body schema (BS) and body image (BI), but also explored the complicated relationship between the two. The book also established the idea that there is a double dissociation, whereby body schema and body image refer to two different, but closely related, systems. Given that many kinds of pathological cases can be described in terms of body schema and body image (phantom limbs, asomatognosia, apraxia, schizophrenia, anorexia, depersonalization, and body dysmorphic disorder, among others), we might expect to find a growing consensus about these concepts and the relevant neural activities connected to these systems. Instead, an examination of the scientific literature reveals continued ambiguity and disagreement. This volume brings together leading experts from the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry in a lively and productive dialogue. It explores fundamental questions about the relationship between body schema and body image, and addresses ongoing debates about the role of the brain and the role of social and cultural factors in our understanding of embodiment.

The Role of Hand Size in the Fake-Hand Illusion Paradigm

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5853 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 1547-1554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Pavani ◽  
Massimiliano Zampini
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Video Image ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Statistical Correlations ◽  
Hand Size ◽  
Visible Hand

When a hand (either real or fake) is stimulated in synchrony with our own hand concealed from view, the felt position of our own hand can be biased toward the location of the seen hand. This intriguing phenomenon relies on the brain's ability to detect statistical correlations in the multisensory inputs (ie visual, tactile, and proprioceptive), but it is also modulated by the pre-existing representation of one's own body. Nonetheless, researchers appear to have accepted the assumption that the size of the seen hand does not matter for this illusion to occur. Here we used a real-time video image of the participant's own hand to elicit the illusion, but we varied the hand size in the video image so that the seen hand was either reduced, veridical, or enlarged in comparison to the participant's own hand. The results showed that visible-hand size modulated the illusion, which was present for veridical and enlarged images of the hand, but absent when the visible hand was reduced. These findings indicate that very specific aspects of our own body image (ie hand size) can constrain the multisensory modulation of the body schema highlighted by the fake-hand illusion paradigm. In addition, they suggest an asymmetric tendency to acknowledge enlarged (but not reduced) images of body parts within our body representation.

The embodied and social self: insights on body image and body schema from neurological conditions

2021 ◽  
pp. 229-243
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cole
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sensory Loss ◽  
Social Self ◽  
Facial Disfigurement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Neurological Illnesses

In neurological illnesses, the body may present itself to perception in ways which allows insights into the concepts of body image and body schema. Three such conditions are explored. From those who live with spinal cord injury, paralysed and insentient from the neck down, aspects of the importance of the body in one’s sense of self are revealed. Some also describe a coming to terms with their altered bodies. When considering the body image, its adaptability and this reconciliation to a new normal should be considered. Studies on acquired severe sensory loss explore how conscious control, at the body image level, may partially replace the deafferented body schema. There is little evidence, however, for these subjects extending access to previously non-conscious motor schema. Lastly, some narratives from those with congenital absence of movement of facial muscles describe reduced emotional experience and felt embodiment as children. These can be developed as young adults, through shared social interactions. The importance of the social in elaboration of the body image is further implicit in a consideration of the stigma associated with facial disfigurement. Others’ responses to one’s body are crucial in developing our body image and sense of self.

Measurement Invariance of a Body Dysmorphic Disorder Symptom Questionnaire Across Sex: The Body Image Questionnaire–Child and Adolescent Version

Assessment ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 1026-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie C. Schneider ◽  
Andrew J. Baillie ◽  
Jonathan Mond ◽  
Cynthia M. Turner ◽  
Jennifer L. Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
Body Dysmorphic Disorder ◽  
Psychometric Evaluation ◽  
Child And Adolescent ◽  
The Body ◽  
Measurement Properties ◽  
School Students ◽  
Disorder Symptom

Measures of body dysmorphic disorder symptoms have received little psychometric evaluation in adolescent samples. This study aimed to examine cross-sex measurement invariance in the Body Image Questionnaire–Child and Adolescent version (BIQ-C) to establish whether observed sex differences in total scores may be meaningful or due to differences in measurement properties. A sample of 3,057 Australian high school students completed the initial screening item of the measure (63.2% male, Mage = 14.58 years, SD = 1.37, range = 12-18 years). Of these participants, 1,512 (49.5%) reported appearance concerns and thus completed the full measure. Partial scalar measurement invariance was established among a revised two-factor, 9-item version of the BIQ-C (BIQ-C-9). Females reported significantly greater latent factor variance, higher BIQ-C-9 total and factor scores, and higher scores on most individual BIQ-C-9 items. The measure can be used with caution to compare body dysmorphic disorder symptoms between male and female adolescents, though sex-specific cutoff scores should be used.

Body image and eating disorders are common in professional and amateur athletes using performance and image-enhancing drugs (pieds). A cross-sectional study

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S144-S144
Author(s):  
D. Piacentino ◽  
L. Longo ◽  
A. Pavan ◽  
S. Ferracuti ◽  
R. Brugnoli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Body Dysmorphic Disorder ◽  
The Body ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Amateur Athletes ◽  
Image Enhancing ◽  
Psychopathological Disorders

IntroductionThe use of Performance and Image-Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs) is on the increase and appears to be associated with several psychopathological disorders, whose prevalence in unclear.Objectives/AimsWe aimed to evaluate the differences–if any–in the prevalence of body image disorders (BIDs) and eating disorders (EDs) in PIEDs users athletes vs. PIEDs nonusers ones.MethodsWe enrolled 84 consecutive professional and amateur athletes (35.8% females; age range = 18–50), training in several sports centers in Italy. They underwent structured interviews (SCID I/SCID II) and completed the Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI) and the Sick, Control, One, Fat, Food Eating Disorder Screening Test (SCOFF). Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test were used for comparisons.ResultsOf the 84 athletes, 18 (21.4%) used PIEDs. The most common PIEDs were anabolic androgenic steroids, amphetamine-like substances, cathinones, ephedrine, and caffeine derivatives (e.g. guarana). The two groups did not differ in socio-demographic characteristics, but differed in anamnestic and psychopathological ones, with PIEDs users athletes being characterized by significantly (P-values < 0.05) higher physical activity levels, consuming more coffee, cigarettes, and psychotropic medications (e.g. benzodiazepines) per day, presenting more SCID diagnoses of psychiatric disorders, especially Substance Use Disorders, Eating Disorders, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), and General Anxiety Disorders, showing higher BICI scores, which indicate a higher risk of BDD, and higher SCOFF scores, which suggest a higher risk of BIDs and EDs.ConclusionsIn PIEDs users athletes body image and eating disorders, and more in general psychopathological disorders, are more common than in PIEDs nonusers athletes.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Visual self-motion feedback affects the sense of self in virtual reality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrieann Schettler ◽  
Ian Holstead ◽  
John Turri ◽  
Michael Barnett-Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Biological Sex ◽  
Self Motion

AbstractWe assessed how self-motion affects the visual representation of the self. We constructed a novel virtual reality experiment that systematically varied an avatar’s motion and also biological sex. Participants were presented with pairs of avatars that visually represented the participant (“self avatar”), or another person (“opposite avatar”). Avatar motion either corresponded with the participant’s motion, or was decoupled from the participant’s motion. The results show that participants identified with i) “self avatars” over “opposite avatars”, ii) avatars moving congruently with self-motion over incongruent motion, and importantly iii) identification with the “opposite avatar” over the “self avatar” when the opposite avatar’s motion was congruent with self-motion. Our results suggest that both self-motion and biological sex are relevant to the body schema and body image and that congruent bottom-up visual feedback of self-motion is particularly important for the sense of self and capable of overriding top-down self-identification factors such as biological sex.

scholarly journals A sad thumbs up: Incongruent gestures and disrupted sensorimotor activity both slow processing of facial expressions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrienne Wood ◽  
Jared Martin ◽  
Martha W. Alibali ◽  
Paula Niedenthal
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Congruency Effect ◽  
The Body ◽  
Hand Gestures ◽  
Affective Meaning ◽  
Sensorimotor Activity ◽  
The Face ◽  
Expression Processing

Recognition of affect expressed in the face is disrupted when the body expresses an incongruent affect. Existing research has documented such interference for universally recognizable bodily expressions. However, it remains unknown whether learned, conventional gestures can interfere with facial expression processing. Study 1 participants (N = 62) viewed videos of facial expressions accompanied by hand gestures and reported the valence of either the face or hand. Responses were slower and less accurate when the face-hand pairing was incongruent compared to congruent. We hypothesized that hand gestures might exert an even stronger influence on facial expression processing when other routes to understanding the meaning of a facial expression, such as with sensorimotor simulation, are disrupted. Participants in Study 2 (N = 127) completed the same task, but the facial mobility of some participants was restricted, which disrupted face processing in prior work. The hand-face congruency effect from Study 1 was replicated. The facial mobility manipulation affected males only, and it did not moderate the congruency effect. The present work suggests the affective meaning of conventional gestures is processed automatically and can interfere with face perception, but perceivers do not seem to rely more on gestures when sensorimotor face processing is disrupted.

scholarly journals Body Schema Self-Awareness and Related Dream Content Modifications in Amputees Due to Cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1625
Author(s):  
Alessandra Giordano ◽  
Michele Boffano ◽  
Raimondo Piana ◽  
Roberto Mutani ◽  
Alessandro Cicolin
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dream Content ◽  
Phantom Limb ◽  
Limb Amputation ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Image Perception ◽  
Dream Content Analysis

Purpose: the evaluation of body image perception, pain coping strategies, and dream content, together with phantom limb and telescoping phenomena in patients with sarcoma who underwent surgery for limb amputation. Material and Methods: consecutive outpatients were evaluated at T0 (within 3 weeks after surgery) and T1 (4–6 months after surgery) as follows: demographic and clinical data collection; the Groningen Questionnaire Problems after Arm Amputation; the West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory; the Body Image Concern Inventory, a clinical trial to identify telescoping; and a weekly diary of dreams. Dream contents were coded according to the Hall and Van de Castle coding system. Results: Twenty patients completed the study (15 males and 5 females, mean age: 53.9 ± 24.6, education: 7.8 ± 3.4). All subjects experienced phantom limb and 35% of them experienced telescoping soon after surgery, and 25% still after 4–6 months. Both at T0 and T1, that half of the subjects reported dreams about still having their missing limbs. At T1 the patients’ perceptions of being able to deal with problems were lower, and pain and its interference in everyday life were higher yet associated with significant engagement in everyday activities and an overall good mood. The dream content analysis highlighted that males were less worried about health problems soon after amputation, and women showed more initial difficulties that seemed to be resolved after 4–6 months after surgery. Conclusions: The dream content analysis may improve clinicians’ ability to support their patients during their therapeutic course.

Body Image Disorders

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine J. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Body Dysmorphic Disorder ◽  
Body Shame ◽  
The Body ◽  
Lived Body ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Gender Imbalance ◽  
Body Image Disorders ◽  
Research Orientations

This chapter examines so-called body image disorders, focusing on body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. These disorders have been studied extensively by psychologists and psychiatrists from both the "body image" and "body shame" research orientations. Body image disorders have also proved, for feminist thinkers mindful of the gender imbalance in many of these disorders, to be an important locus for cultural criticism, including criticism of psychological and psychiatric perspectives. Those philosophers and anthropologists with a phenomenological bent, particularly those with an interest in the lived body and embodiment, have also found a fruitful terrain in body image disorders. These different disciplines and approaches provide multiple perspectives which are often complementary, occasionally in some tension with one another, but always mutually enriching, and all of them are sketched here.

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