S. Bellino, E. Paradiso, M. Zizza, C. Zanon, M. Fulcheri, F. Bogetto - Vol. 10, June 2004, Issue 2
Testo Immagini Bibliografia Summary Indice
l disturbo da dismorfismo corporeo: revisione
critica della letteratura
Body dysmorphic disorder: a critical review
The present paper is a review of conceptual and clinical issues concerning description and classification of body dysmorphic disorder. Contributions of psychosomatic research to theorical definition of relationship between psychic phenomena and physical symptoms or illness are briefly analyzed. Current concept of somatoform disorders and their classification according to DSM-IV criteria are explained, with particular attention to distinguish those disorders that drive their characteristics from the traditional entity of psychic psychonevrosis from those that appear related to obsessive-compulsive spectrum. In this last group, body dysmorphic disorder is focused on and recent investigations on epidemiology, risk factors, clinical picture, level of insight, comorbidity and biological correlates of this disorder are reported and discussed.
A specific section takes into account the role of body dysmorphic symptoms in patients who seek for cosmetic surgery and the effects of this somatoform disorder on outcome of surgical interventions.
Recent data on drug treatment and psychotherapy of body dysmorphic disorder are reviewed, too. Open questions that require to be dealt with in future investigations are proposed.