Body dysmorphic disorder: some diagnostic approaches

Objective. Dysmorphophobis (body dysmorphic disorder, BDD) is a mental disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with any imaginary or mild physical defect that causes significant discomfort, distress in the social sphere and other important areas of human activity.

The aim was to analyze the possibilities of foreign validated methods for detecting body dysmorphic disorder in a Russian-speaking audience.

Materials and methods. Two questionnaires have been translated into Russian, BDDQ-DV and DCQ. The survey was carried out in three samples: patients of a somatic hospital (55 women), clients of a plastic surgeon (71 women) and senior students of the Perm State Medical University (31 women).

Results. A positive answer to the question about the presence of a “defect” in appearance was given by the majority of the survey participants. Most of them described in detail those “defects” of their appearance that bother them. More than half of them think a lot about the defects. A question with a request to describe the "defect" allows the doctor to clarify the indications for its correction. If the medical correction is not indicated, the physician of the somatic profile can refer the patient for psychological correction. Answers regarding the severity of feelings about the “defect”, about disorders in social and professional life, about how long it takes to think about a “defect” and attempts to hide it, as well as whether the respondents have previously consulted about it with a doctor, and what were the results of consultation, allow us to suspect the presence of BDD and refer the respondent to a profile specialist. The analysis of internal consistency demonstrated the possibility of using these questionnaires in scientific research (Cronbach's alpha 0.82–0.84).

Conclusions The presented Russian-language versions of the DCQ and BDDQ-DV questionnaires can be recommended for scientific research as a screening tool for detecting body dysmorphic disorder among females of different age groups. However, their implementation in practice requires a deeper adaptation to the Russian-speaking audience.