Body dysmorphic disorder

[Britinme]

Fascinating article in New Scientist suggests an alternative source of body dysmorphic disorder than 'being born in the wrong body':

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2441413-we-may-have-found-why-people-experience-body-dysmorphic-disorder/

https://archive.is/kpquK
Precis version:

The origin of body dysmorphic disorder has been traced to a specific bundle of neurons within the brain that are connected with processing visual information. The finding, if confirmed, could help the development of new treatments for the condition.

The researchers found that a bundle of nerve fibres connecting the dorsal visual stream with the ventral visual stream had a lower density in those with body dysmorphic disorder than in those without. The lower the density, the worse the symptoms.

Researchers said:“We’ve assumed for some time that imbalances in visual processing are at least partly responsible for the distressing distortions experienced by people with BDD [body dysmorphic disorder] when they look at their own face...(but this study shows) the imbalances may be attributable to a specific anatomical neuronal bundle”.

That's so interesting.
This research will probably be viewed as intolerance by TRA even though it could actually help people.

Very interesting. Obviously madly transphobic.

I think this is the original study?

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.12.603273v1.full

This is fascinating, and could be incredibly useful for people experiencing ED's as well as Trans etc.

Any minute now we'll get the speil about the important thing being gender dysphoria and how talking about BMD shows we just don't understaaaaaaannnd.

I will read this later, than you.

I don’t know the statistics, but I suspect body dysmorphia affects many women and has serious negative impacts on their lives.

BDD and Gender Dysphoria and misperceptions of size are different, possibly overlapping or sharing neurological features but this studied BDD only.
Neurological features might predispose to the development of a problem, or the development of a problem could change the neurology, I think, or both. From the psychological perspective the development of BDD ime always has clear roots in development or experience. Our brains and our bodies tell our stories from our perspective perhaps.

Thanks, that was interesting. The article references look fascinating too.

I am very thankful that there are scientists doing this useful work.

It would be interesting to see what the effects of extreme internet usage (forms of social media, porn, gaming etc) would have on the brain structures like this. In other words the type of "self-training" that many of us are undergoing. In terms of our perceptual diet I mean (thinking about an analogy with research into types of ultra processed food).

And I wonder what they imagine the "treatment" might be? Some sort of "perception work-out" to increase the density of connection?

I find this really interesting. I spent much of my teens and twenties thinking I was hideous. It was only looking at the few photos I had years later that I realised I looked pretty normal.

That's fascinating.

Girls and women are encouraged relentlessly to negatively critique their looks through the lens of the male gaze. I expect body dysphoria is kind of endemic among women to a greater or lesser degree, and accepted as how things are.

There are many reasons to question the 'body positive' movement but the basic idea is astonishingly liberating - take pleasure in your body and never mind how it measures up to arbitrary standards.

We watch everything on streaming these days so we often get to see older shows. One thing that always strikes me is that male actors seem to have a much wider range of attractiveness than female actors, unless the female actors tors are older and maybe comical in some way. How does that affect girls and teenagers watching, I wonder.