Article Review: Video on Body Dysmorphic Disorder

I decided to watch a YouTube video on my inquiry topic, plastic surgery addiction. I realized that my research is based around body dysmorphic disorder, because people who are addicted to plastic surgery as well as just changing their appearance constantly have body dysmorphic disorder. I searched, “plastic surgery addicts” into the YouTube search engine and saw a couple good candidates. The video I chose was a clip from CNN’s Larry King Live. At first I wasn’t sure if this was a credible source, but Larry King had a licensed CHMN Psychologist from Scripps Memorial Hospital, located in La Jolla, Ca. I decided to use this video clip as a credible source to help me research the psychology of plastic surgery addiction and body dysmorphic disorder. On this episode of Larry King Live, a lady named Jenny Lee was introduced as a lady that has had over 30 plastic surgeries and has spent around $80,000 on her addiction. This video gave a great description of what exactly body dysmorphic disorder is, and why someone would have this disorder. I liked this video because the psychologist was not putting down the lady who has had over 30 plastic surgeries, but trying to relate to her as well as not pressuring her and throwing it all in her face. Body Dysmorhpic disorder was the main key words that were mentioned in this video, and also verbal abuse. Verbal abuse is said to be a leading cause for body dysmorphic disorder. Dr. George Pratt was listing reasons why the lady may have body dysmorphic disorder, but he also stated that there are many reasons why a person has this disorder. This video made me realize that this topic is very broad, which is great for me because I will be able to share many details and reasons why so many people are addicted to plastic surgery. Dr. Pratt used verbal abuse as the main reason for, Jenny Lee’s addiction to plastic surgery. This makes a lot of sense because verbal abuse leaves the victim with the state of mind that they are not good enough, and altering their appearance is an easy fix, although very expensive. Plastic surgery addiction is just one way some victims of verbal abuse practice their body dysmorphic disorder, it can be a lot of things. This video was really easy for me to watch, and I liked it more than reading a long text. I would rather watch a television clip than read an article, and it just so happened I found a scholarly video that had credible information from a professional psychologist.

Link to the “Addicted to Plastic Surgery clip from Larry King Live”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPCDWKxWwzQ