Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Culture

How might a culture help create individual cases of body dysmorphic disorder?

Why do some people in a society carry a culture’s aesthetic ideals to an extreme, while others stay within normal bounds?

I am not sure if  culture can help, but it might be able to create an environment where body dysmorphic disorder could flourish. We live in just this type of environment. Hollywood, the internet, television, magazines, popular music, and beauty pageants are all partners in crime when it comes to creating an environment where body dysmorphic disorder issues have seemingly risen to epidemic status. However wide-spread this disorder appears to be, it continues to be a very individual problem. Many people have a concept of what the phrase “political correctness” means, but for many women, and particularly young women, struggle with “anatomical correctness,” or what is also known as ideal female body type.

At an early age most girls play with dolls. Most of the dolls these little girls play with are made in a way to mimic what the culture embraces as the idea of combining of physical features people find attractive in a real baby. The slow slide into body dysmorphic disorder finds its genesis in these early years of life.

As the pre-teen and teenage years arrive, these same girls will almost universally begin to try to fashion their own appearance to that which our culture declares ideal via the influence of movies, television, internet, music, and magazines. However, in our culture, celebrity alone is not the only avenue to BDD. Groupthink, a problem often overlooked by most, plays a big part in how culture shapes self-image. One of the saddest programs on television is about mothers entering very young children in beauty pageants, and so many women think that this is ok. The prevailing sentiment for most of these women, involved or watching, goes something like this, “isn’t this so cute” or “aren’t they just precious.” The fact that so many buy into this line of thought should make it easier to understand why so many girls, young women, and even older women have issues with BDD. The overarching thought involved revolves around the idealization of perfecting physical appearances to meet some cultural idea of beauty. There are so many more issues we could discuss involving this topic, but I need to move on.

Beauty is one side of the BDD coin, but perceived ugliness may be the other side. Having counseled, witnessed to, and ministered to so many people over the years, I have come to determine (however unscientifically it may be) that there are large numbers of people, who because of self-image issues, refuse or avoid interacting with others because they believe or imagine that they have some sort of defect in appearance. Some have said that as many as 15% of those seeking cosmetic surgery (Comer, 2013). However, I believe the number could be much higher due to idea of the problem being medical in nature when many times it could be treated through various psychological methods. BDD seems, in my opinion, to be very closely related to OCD and social phobia.

I am sure many will automatically think of Michael Jackson when they think about extreme BDD. They should for good reasons. As I thought about his situation, I have often wondered if there were more issues at work than just trying to match the cultural ideal. For Michael, there seemed to be a huge compulsive element to his continued surgeries. He continued to change and undergo more and more discomfort to try and relieve discomfort? It seems as though his actions could have been based on intrusive thoughts about his appearance and they certainly seemed repetitive. On the flipside, I know I have experienced negative thoughts about my appearance, but I do not let them consume me. I believe those who do not go to extremes are a lot like me.

Our sense of physical attractiveness should not depend on what the culture around us purports, but it should rest on who we are in Christ. As Christians we attain self-worth and self-esteem by having a right relationship with God. We can know we are attractive because of the high price God paid for us through the blood of Jesus. “I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you” (Psalm 16:2, ESV).

 Do you see any relationship between BDD and eating disorders?

Comer, R. J. (2013). Abnormal Psychology (8th ed.). New York, New York: Worth Publishers. Retrieved October 23, 2012

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001, Crossway Bibles, Good News Publishers.