Going Inside Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

For my third article review I went to CSUC’s library research station and found an article from the Citation Station. The title of this article is, Diagnosing Culture: Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Cosmetic Surgery. This title automatically let me know that this article was completely relevant to my topic. This article discussed many examples and stories of people, mostly women, who have body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Basically, BDD is a disorder where one is always unsatisfied with them, and can find something wrong about every part of their body. The reason why plastic surgery is connected with BDD is, it is the quick fix. Plastic surgery is the solution to the problems people with BDD constantly face. The author of this article, Cressida J. Heyes, uses Foucault’s’ genealogy work to help describe why exactly people have BDD. Those who have BDD tend to sway toward plastic surgery, but not always, it just makes it easier for one to become addicted to it. By looking at Foucault’s’ genealogy work, people have came to the conclusion that BDD is a serious psychiatric issue.

The author is trying explaining BDD and why plastic surgery is the wrong chose for those who have this disorder because of psychiatric problems. The author’s position on this issue is very informative and not bias, which is great for this issue because cosmetic surgery is not to blame, most people who have a cosmetic surgery do not have body dysmorphic disorder, but for those who have BDD, plastic surgery is a very dangerous choice. Some of the key terms that were used in this article were, BDD, Foucault, and psychiatric diagnosis. The problems that the author addressed was, people put BDD in a light category, when it is actually a big issue that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The part of the text that stood out to me the most was, all the stories that were shared about people with BDD. The stories would talk about women who would basically hate everything about them. They would look in the mirror and be able to pick apart themselves and find something wrong with every part of their body, like their nose, teeth, and even cheeks. There was also another story about a lady who would be so distracted with a flaw she thought was much worse than it was, would be late for work, and even not go places because she thought everyone would notice, when really she was just making it a bigger issue than it was. From this article I learned that BDD is a serious issue and many people who have BDD and can’t control their judgments on themselves.

Link To This Article: http://bod.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/15/4/73