Gazing rituals in body dysmorphic disorder

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Gazing rituals and focusing on perceived flaws are key maintaining factors in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) cognitive-behavioral models.
• Understanding the impact of gazing duration and stimuli on BDD symptoms is crucial for treatment development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the causal effects of gazing rituals on appearance preoccupation in BDD.
• To examine how different gazing durations and facial stimuli (unfamiliar face, own photo, own reflection) affect dissociation, attractiveness evaluations, and perceptual uncertainty.

Main Methods:

• 115 females participated in a face gazing paradigm with varying gazing durations and facial stimuli.
• The study assessed the influence of BDD symptom severity on participants' reactions to different facial stimuli.

Main Results:

• Five minutes of gazing significantly increased dissociation levels.
• Participants rated self-relevant facial stimuli, particularly their own photograph, as less attractive than an unfamiliar face.

Conclusions:

• Findings support cognitive-behavioral models for BDD, highlighting the role of gazing rituals.
• Therapeutic interventions for BDD may benefit from incorporating perceptual retraining with patient photographs, extending current mirror retraining techniques.