Negative priming for threatening vs. non-threatening information in body dysmorphic disorder
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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
Sabine Wilhelm1, Ulrike Buhlmann1, Richard J McNally2
11Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown.
Background:
Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) suffer from unpleasant, repetitive thoughts about imagined defects in appearance which are difficult to control.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to test for deficits in cognitive inhibition in BDD.
Methods:
To test for deficits in cognitive inhibition in BDD, we applied a negative priming paradigm. Specifically, we explored whether BDD patients exhibit greater deficits in cognitive inhibition when lexical targets are threatening than when they are non-threatening.
Results:
Surprisingly, BDD patients exhibited deficits in cognitive inhibition only for non-threatening but not for threatening information.
Conclusions:
Although BDD patients often describe their negative thoughts about their appearance as distressing, they may experience them as valid and thus may not try to control them.
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