Signs and Symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder is generally presented by three separate symptoms which are preoccupation with physical appearance, similar to anorexia nervosa and bulimia, frequently looking in mirrors, and believing that others take special notice of one’s appearance in a negative way (use this sentence as your opening abstract and introduction statement; thesis statement). Research these three distinct elements, using at least one recent scholarly article per factor with populations found in the U.S., and demonstrate how they separately, and ultimately in concert, aid or impede the presentation of body dysmorphic disorder. In other words, research why the three factors single handedly, and more often together, help or hurt an individual’s chances of exhibiting symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder. Research paper should be 3 total pages excluding title and bibliography pages. You must use APA formatting for your paper.

Choosing an Article

You can research by topic in EBSCO Host or InfoTrac. When entering search criteria in one of the aforementioned data bases, make sure to identify U.S. populations in addition to whatever descriptor (preoccupation with physical appearance, similar to anorexia nervosa and bulimia, frequently looking in the mirrors, and believing that others take special notice of one’s appearance in a negative way) you are researching. There are literally thousands of articles you can choose from. I suggest starting your search by simply using “body dysmorphic disorder and preoccupation with physical appearance) as criteria at first. Do a similar search on frequently looking in the mirrors, and believing that others take special notice of one’s appearance in a negative way. You need one scholarly article pertaining to each factor that influences body dysmorphic disorder. Wikipedia, Yahoo, Google, etc. are not valid data bases.

Note: Some articles that you find may cover more than one element. You will notice how the combinations of any of these signs and symptoms exponentially increase a person’s likelihood of presenting body dysmorphic disorder. You should definitely write about this phenomenon. Even though this is the case, and should be identified, three separate scholarly articles must be referenced (one article per factor equaling a total of three).

An abstract is a summation of a research article. When looking for articles you will notice that before the introduction of the article that you are reviewing there is a small paragraph that sums up what the paper is about ( it is basically a very brief collection of statements that identify introductory topics, samples, and conclusion type information. These are read to see what the research was about and how it ended. Trust me, reading the article’s abstract should be more than enough information to tell whether or not it would be good for incorporation. Research time can be decreased by using abstracts as determinants. Make sure your populations of study are located in the U.S.

You are in essence performing a secondary analysis of a disorder (body dysmorphic disorder). You must include an abstract with your paper.

Papers should be general formatting (12 font, double spaced, Times New Roman, etc.) Follow the textual examples and the “pictorial overview” (outline by pictures) as guides for how to appropriately position your headings as well as what to include in your conclusion. These samples follow.

Body dysmorphic disorder is generally presented by three separate symptoms which are preoccupation with physical appearance, similar to anorexia nervosa and bulimia, frequently looking in mirrors, and believing that others take special notice of one’s appearance in a negative way ( it is basically a very brief collection of statements that identify topics, samples (who was studied or observed), and conclusion type information. (7-9 sentences)

Introduce the research paper here. Briefly cover all of the symptoms that can possibly signify a body dysmorphic disorder. The introduction is somewhat like the abstract, but as a general rule conclusions are NOT given. It is not uncommon for researchers to add greater detail to the introduction and use it as an abstract. (5-7 sentences)

Symptom of Preoccupation with Physical Appearance

A lot of people in this world don’t like the way they look and most of them try and change that. A term used to describe this is body image, and research shows that body image is very important during pre-adolescent and adolescent years of a person. Not liking the way one looks and being dissatisfied with your body are some of the main causes for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). These symptoms have been shown to negatively affect physical and psychological conditions, including depression, anxiety and eating disorders. These symptoms are known to cause a person to see themselves in ways which are not true, the person may see themselves as overweight when they really aren’t or the person may see themselves as underweight when they are not. Most people who suffer from BDD have higher levels of psychological problems. Studies have shown that your age and sex has a very strong impact on BDD, Females are more likely to show signs of overweight distortions while males are more likely to show signs of underweight distortion. A study was done and it shows that between 17 and 43 percent of adolescent females who are of normal weight show sighs of overweight distortion, while about 20 to 27 percent of males think they are underweight. The way people see their physical appearance from a young age carries on to how they see themselves as they get older.

Symptom of Frequently Looking In Mirrors

Someone with body dysmorphic disorder may look into mirrors for prolonged periods of time, this is called mirror gazing. Mirror gazing occurs in about 80 percent of patience with BDD while the rest of them try to avoid mirrors all together by covering them up or taking them down to avoid mirror gazing. Most people with BDD and if they do they get diagnosed with depression or social phobia instead of the real problem. Even if they do go seek help most patients will not talk about mirror gazing in fear of being judged or viewed as narcissist.

Symptom of Believing That Others Take Special Notice of One’s Appearance in a Negative Way

This section of the paper should discuss how believing that others take special notice of one’s appearance in a negative way signifies possible body dysmorphic disorder. Use citations from scholarly works to validate your statements.

Conclusion

The conclusion section is the only places in the paper where “I” is allowed. There are several things that should be covered. Remember to include: what you learned from your research, whether the articles referenced were based on fact or opinion (were they good samples, were they recent, etc.), how you would rate the articles referenced for your research (use a 1-10 grading scale to rate the articles you referenced), who would benefit most from reading/reviewing the reviewed research articles.