Beauty and the beast: Psychobiologic and evolutionary perspectives on body dysmorphic disorder

CNS Spectr. 2006 Jun;11(6):419-22. doi: 10.1017/s1092852900014590.

Abstract

Body 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 judgements about physical beauty lead to BDD.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Atrophy / diagnostic imaging
  • Atrophy / pathology
  • Beauty*
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Brain / blood supply
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging
  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
  • Frontal Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Frontal Lobe / pathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / drug therapy
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / genetics
  • Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Somatoform Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Somatoform Disorders / drug therapy
  • Somatoform Disorders / psychology
  • Space Perception / physiology
  • Temporal Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Temporal Lobe / pathology
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
  • Visual Perception / physiology

Substances

  • Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors