The present study investigated the relationship of depression, self-esteem, somatization, and obsessive-compulsive disorder to the incidence of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Female (n=83) and male (n=25) undergraduates completed measures of body esteem, self-esteem, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and somatization. Subjects were also screened for eating disorders utilizing the DSM-IV criteria for such in an effort to control for anorexia and bulimia. Upon excluding those subjects who met the criteria for eating disorders, the final sample included 78 females and 24 males. The results indicated that lower body esteem scores were linked with lower levels of self-esteem but with higher levels of obsessive-compulsive tendencies, depressive tendencies, and somatization tendencies. The findings are discussed with regard to the need for more accurate measures of body dysmorphic disorder, as well as etiology and future treatment implications.
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Erika L. Biby (1998) studied this question.