Using stories and interviews to show the many different behaviors and symptoms of BDD, and providing a quick self-assessment questionnaire, Dr. Phillips helps readers distinguish between normal concern with appearance and the obsession of BDD. She then guides readers through the basics of the disorder and through the many treatment options that work and don't work. Drawing on her years of clinical practice, scientific research, and professional evaluations of over 700 patients, she offers the best possible advice available. The result is a literally lifesaving handbook for sufferers and their families.

Katharine A. Phillips, MD, is Director of The BDD and Body Image Program at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, and Professor of Psychiatry at Brown Medical School.

• Preface


• 1: What is Body Dismorphic Disorder?


• 2: How Do I Know if I Have BDD?


• 3: BDD Comes in Many Forms


• 4: Painful Obsessions


• 5: Compulsive Behaviors: Mirror Checking, Grooming, Camouflaging, Dieting, and Others


• 6: How BDD Affects Lives: Social Avoidance, Problems with School and Work, Violence, Suicide, and Other Consequences


• 7: Gender and BDD across the Life Span


• 8: What Causes BDD? Clues to an Unsolved Puzzle


• 9: Getting Better: A Brief Treatment Guide


• 10: How to Successfully Treat BDD with Medication


• 11: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for BDD


• 12: Cosmetic Treatments: Surgery, Dermatologic, Dental, and Other Treatments


• 13: Anorexia Nervosa, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Other Psychiatric Disorders--What's Their Relationship to BDD?


• 14: Advice for Family Members and Friends


• 15: Getting Help for BDD


• Glossary


• Index