Study Says People With Body-Image Disorders See 'Big Picture' Abnormally

People suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD process visual information abnormally, even when looking at inanimate objects, a new UCLA study has revealed.

People suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD - a severe mental illness characterized by debilitating misperceptions that one appears disfigured and ugly - process visual information abnormally, even when looking at inanimate objects, a new UCLA study has revealed.

First author Jamie Feusner, a UCLA assistant professor of psychiatry, and colleagues found that patients with the disorder have less brain activity when processing holistic visual elements that provide the "big picture," regardless of whether that picture is a face or an object.

Depression � A Holistic Approach-Signs, Symptoms and Treatment
Depression is a common disorder and many worldwide suffer from depression. Early recognition of symptoms and signs of depression can help in taking a holistic approach to the management of depression.

The study compared 14 BDD patients, both men and women, with 14 healthy controls.

Researchers used a type of brain scan called functional MRI (fMRI) to scan subjects while they viewed digital photographs of houses that were either unaltered or altered in ways to parse out different elements of visual processing.

One altered set of images included very fine details, such as the shingles on the roof. The other altered images had very little detail and just showed things "holistically," such as the general shape of the house and the doors and windows.

Depression - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting approximately 340 million people in the world. No one is immune from depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.

The researchers found that the BDD patients had abnormal brain activation patterns when viewing pictures of the less-detailed houses: The regions of their brains that process these visual elements showed less activation than the healthy controls.

In addition, the more severe their BDD symptoms, the lower the brain activity in the areas responsible for processing the image holistically.

Adolescent Depression - Causes - Affects - Depressed Teens - Treatment - FAQs
Adolescent depression is an ailment that occurs during the teenage characterized by persistent melancholy, disappointment and loss of self-esteem.

"The study suggests that BDD patients have general abnormalities in visual processing," said Feusner.

The research appeared in the current online edition of the journal Psychological Medicine.

Source-ANI