Introduction: This paper reviews the literature as it relates to perceptual processes in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).
Methods: A narrative-style review of the literature was undertaken to explore the relationship between BDD and obsessive-compulsive disorder, the empirical evidence for aberrant own-body perception in BDD, and the possible role of the parietal cortex in the disorder.
Results: The extant literature appears to support the postulation that BDD is underpinned by a dysfunction in somatoperception-the process by which individuals formulate a sense of what they look like.
Conclusions: Investigation of somatoperceptive processes in BDD and related brain structures would provide important insight about the development and maintenance of this complex and often neglected psychiatric condition, and, in turn, help improve its treatment.