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Beauty and the beast: Psychobiologic and evolutionary perspectives on body dysmorphic disorder
Dan J Stein1, Paul D Carey, James Warwick
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Abstract:
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterized by preoccupation with a defect in appearance. Concepts of beauty play a particularly crucial role in humans' mental and social life, and may have specific psychobiologic and evolutionary underpinnings. In particular, there is a growing literature on the neurocircuitry underpinning the body schema, body image and facial expression processing, and aesthetic and symmetry judgments. Speculatively, disruptions in cognitive-affective processes relevant to judgements about physical beauty lead to BDD.
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