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Beauty and the Beast: Psychobiologic and Evolutionary Perspectives on Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

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 judgments about physical beauty lead to BDD.

Type
Pearls in Clinical Neuroscience
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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