When you stand in front of the mirror, do you like what you see?

quamce (49)in #science • 6 years ago

Cordial greeting community steemit.

For centuries in the era of beautiful Cleopatra, through Greek mythology with the beautiful goddesses, the muscular Roman gladiators and nowadays the sexy models of Victoria's Secret, all always had their body, their beauty, always looking for bodily perfection, this led the human to always try to copy its beauty, over time this was transforming society, to the point of always being dissatisfied with their body, noticing and maximizing the minimum defect, they always look too fat or very skinny , see his nose or ear very large, in short, we are always dissatisfied with what we see in front of the mirror, that at a medical level is called disorder of self-perception.

When we bring this disorder to a chronic level, science gives it the name of dysmorphophobia. Defined as the disorder of body perception and assessment, it consists of an exaggerated concern for some non-existent defect in physical appearance.

This phobia is a very common clinical picture, those who possess the obsessive conviction of having a deformed part or all of the body suffer anguish due to their supposed ugliness and tend to make tiny imperfections assume an inordinate importance. Complaints can be made anywhere in the body and equally affect attractive people and those who are not.

Studies show that in 45% of the cases the complaint focuses on the shape of the nose, although the alterations, imaginary or minimal, may correspond to the face, weight, height, backside, belly, hair, breasts, feet, hands, genitals, legs, and extend to any part of the body.

This phobia or fear of not having a normal appearance is observed more frequently in adolescents of both sexes and is extremely linked to the transformations that occur at puberty, starting at age twelve and ending, in non-pathological cases, towards eighteen or twenty years.

Dysmorphophobia is much more common among upper class young people, with few or no physical defects. Influenced by the media and the high standards of current beauty, they begin to have an erroneous or exaggerated perception of imperceptible or imaginary physical defects.

Causes.

It is not known specifically what is the cause of body dysmorphic disorder. Like many other mental illnesses, body dysmorphic disorder can be a consequence of many causes, for example:

Differences in the brain.
Abnormalities in the structure or neurochemistry of the brain can play an important role in the appearance of body dysmorphic disorder.
Genes.
In some studies, it is indicated that body dysmorphic disorder is more frequent in people whose blood relatives also have this condition or have obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Environment.
Your environment, your life experiences and culture can contribute to body dysmorphic disorder, especially if they involve negative social evaluations about your body or your personal image, or even if You suffered neglect or abuse during childhood.

Symptom.

The signs and symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder include the following:

To worry excessively about a perceived defect in the appearance that others do not see or see as something minor.

Solidly believe that you have a flaw in your appearance that makes you unhappy or deformed.

Believe that others pay special attention to your appearance in a negative way or make fun of you.

Engaging in behaviors that attempt to correct or hide the perceived defect that are difficult to resist or control, such as looking in the mirror, grooming or tearing the skin frequently

Try to hide the perceived defects through hair, make-up or clothes.

Constantly compare your appearance with that of others.

Always seek security about your appearance in others.

Have perfectionist tendencies.

Procure aesthetic procedures frequently without being satisfied.

Avoid social situations.

Being so concerned about the appearance that causes you anguish or major problems in your social life, school or other areas of operation.

Obviously, these people have problems in almost all vital areas, because perceiving their image as unbearable and full of defects any activity in society produces a very high anxiety. Although they are capable and intelligent people, they will not be able to perform a normal job, play sports or just be with a group of friends.

Each time they become more isolated so many of these people fall into depression, and if the discomfort persists and is not treated with a good professional they can end up being held at home, without any contact that implies showing their image and unfortunately a part sees suicide as the only way out.

Treatment of dysmorphophobia.

If, on the contrary, we are already facing the disease, the most important thing is to be aware that we have a problem that we can face.

In mild cases, the support of family members, friends or a loved one, may be enough to restore self-confidence, however, in severe cases we must resort to the help of a professional, whether psychiatrist or psychologist.

There are many types of therapy effective in the alterations of the body image, the most adequate are those that are based on the awareness of both the internal and external space.
Psychological treatment is difficult, but with therapy and / or medication, even those who accept that the problem is in their mind and not in their body, can recover.

Rosen's Behavioral Cognitive treatment is one of the most known and applied today.

In this treatment objectives are specified about the appearance, a review of his personal history, work negative language on the body, find evidence for and against, analyze the perceptual distortions, analyze the type of complaint or coping with stereotypes and prejudices.

The person is also exposed to the situations that he avoids, the prevention of response is used when grooming and examining his body, eliminating the search for reassurance in others, accepting compliments, facing social stigma and avoiding comparisons.

It is clear that we all like to be the best version of ourselves and be in tune with our appearance, but we must know to differentiate what is a desire, an obsession and what can be a disorder.

Prevention of dysmorphophobia.

The best treatment is prevention, and its best way, understanding. Therefore, the most effective tool consists of an education in the family environment based on love, that provides the individual with the necessary confidence and self-confidence and that at the same time forms for freedom and self-determination, and that takes into account not only what manifests its behavior, but also the needs of each stage of life and the subtle psychological changes that accompany them.

In addition, although there is no doubt that the physical image, and now more intensely, is fundamental in our daily lives, it is necessary to relativize its importance, emphasizing other values of the human being: kindness, solidarity, honesty, culture and artistic sensibility.

Once again, society is the main cause of a disorder, in this case the dysmorphobia, it is very important to instill in the values of our children from a very early age so that they always have a high self-esteem and know how to fight them. the onslaught of the cruel society of the 21st century, we should love them as they are and not for what we want them to be, that is something very important, I thought it was convenient to end my publication with this thought of the famous writer, essayist, philosopher susan sontag.