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Dysmorphophobia

  • Chapter
Current Themes in Psychiatry

Abstract

Dysmorphophobia is a term first used by Morselli (1886), and is a symptom, rather than a specific disease state. It refers to a morbid fear or conviction concerning bodily deformity or ugliness, which the patient believes is conspicuous to others. The individual is preoccupied with the aesthetic qualities of the body or its parts when objectively no abnormality exists. The literature on this subject is fairly extensive but scattered and much of it is of an anecdotal nature. Two American authors, Andreasen & Bardach (1977), claimed that they were unable to locate any references in English to the term dysmorphophobia apart from one entry in a psychiatric dictionary. The term has been little used in American psychiatry until very recently, but over the past twenty years or so it has been used increasingly in Europe. Initially this was confined to continental European publications (Kraepelin, 1913; Korkina 1959; Corbella & Rossi 1967; Schachter 1971), but Hay’s work (Hay 1970 a & b) appears to have awakened British interest in the concept, which has attracted increasing interest recently (Anononymous 1978, Crisp 1981).

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Authors
  1. O. S. Frank
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Guy’s Hospital, London, England

    Raghu N. Galnd F.R.C. Psych. (Senior Physician in Psychological Medicine) (Senior Physician in Psychological Medicine)

  2. Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Fawzy I. Fawzy M.D.  & Robert O. Pasnau M.D.  & 

  3. University of Oxford, Oxford, England

    Barbara L. Hudson M.A (Lecturer in Applied Social Studies) (Lecturer in Applied Social Studies)

Copyright information

© 1985 Spectrum Publications, Inc.

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Frank, O.S. (1985). Dysmorphophobia. In: Galnd, R.N., Fawzy, F.I., Hudson, B.L., Pasnau, R.O. (eds) Current Themes in Psychiatry. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07746-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07746-5_15

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-07748-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-07746-5

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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