According to a new study from Bradley Hospital, Butler Hospital and Brown Medical School, adolescents with intense dissatisfaction over their appearance are more likely to be depressed, anxious, and suicidal than their peers who do not have these concerns, even when compared to adolescents with other psychiatric illnesses.
The research included such concerns as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), eating disorders (ED) (such as bulimia or anorexia), and other clinically significant concerns over shape/weight in adolescent inpatients at Bradley Hospital, the nation's first psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. Classic BDD is a preoccupation with an imagined physical defect in appearance or a vastly exaggerated concern about a minimal defect, like a crooked nose or imperfect complexion. Weight-related BDD, however, is classified as distressing and impairing preoccupations with one's weight and shape – ie: thinking one's thighs are too fat or one's waist is too big.
The study found that one third of inpatient adolescents had problematic body image concerns, and that those with BDD and shape/weight preoccupations had significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and suicidality than other patients with no body image concerns. Those with eating disorders had significantly higher rates of depression than those without body image concerns.
"These findings underscore just how central feelings about one's appearance tend to be in the world of teenagers and how impairing these concerns can be," says lead author, Jennifer Dyl, PhD, with Bradley Hospital and Brown Medical School.
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