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Treatment of imagined ugliness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Castle  and
Tracey Harrison
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The term ‘dymorphophobia’ – derived from the Greek dysmorphia, meaning ugliness (expressly of the face) – was first coined by Morselli in the late-19th century. He described a subjective feeling of a physical defect which the patient feels is noticeable to others, although his appearance is within normal limits. Dysmorphophobia first appeared in the US psychiatric nosology (as an atypical somatoform disorder) in 1980, with the publication of DSM–III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). However, the term was subsequently criticised both because the condition does not represent a phobia as such, and also because the use of the term had become so broad and imprecise (see Munro & Stewart, 1991).

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , May 1999 , pp. 171 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1999 

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