Miss Directed. Weight Loss

SEROTONIN-REUPTAKE INHIBITORS (SRIS): FIRST-LINE MEDICATIONS FOR BDD – RESEARCHES AND STUDIESThe work of Dr. Lewis Raxter and bis colleasues. as well as other researchers, on the effect of SRIs in obsessive compulsive disorder is extremely interesting and sheds some light on how these medications might work in OCD. Because BDD has many similarities to OCD, the SRIs may have similar effects in BDD. (Such studies haven’t been done yet in BDD.) These researchers studied patients with OCD before and after treatment with an SRI or CBT (specifically, exposure and response prevention). They found that each of these treatments normalized abnormal brain functioning. Before treatment, brain scans showed abnormalities in certain areas of the brain; after either of these treatments, brain functioning became normal. The normalization occurred only in patients who responded to treatment, not in nonresponders or untreated healthy control subjects. SRIs may also make the amygdala (the brain’s “panic button”) function more normally and stop overreacting.What’s fascinating is that these studies showed that an SRI actually makes the brain normal. Some people worry that medications will somehow disrupt their brains or create artificial changes or an artificial state. But research findings suggest the opposite is true. They indicate that SRIs correct a “chemical imbalance” in the brain—that they alleviate symptoms by normalizing an abnormal state. Patients who respond to an SRI feel more “normal.” They say that they feel like themselves again, or that they have more control over their mind— the way they used to, or the way other people do. Similarly, SRIs aren’t “happy pills”—that is, they don’t create an artificial state of happiness; rather, they correct abnormal brain functioning. Researchers have also found that antidepressants such as SRIs may make the brain healthier by protecting brain cells from damage and stimulating the healthy growth of new brain cells. They also appear to protect depressed people with heart disease from a poor cardiac outcome, and stroke patients treated with an antidepressant are more likely to survive than untreated patients.*244\204\8*

DOES THE MEDIA CAUSE BDD?However, media pressures are unlikely to be the only cause of BDD, including muscle dysmorphia. BDD has been described for more than 100 years, long before the media and advertising attained their current power, suggesting that they alone aren’t responsible. BDD also occurs in societies where media messages about appearance are less powerful and pervasive than in ours—or even absent altogether. A colleague told me about a man with BDD from an extremely remote part of Africa. The isolated village he lived in had no TV, no magazines, no billboards, no movies, and no computers. Nonetheless, he had classic and severe BDD that focused on his nose. In addition, BDD responds to psychiatric medications, implicating the fundamental importance of biological factors.But the media may contribute to, or increase the risk of, BDD. If it does, it would be reasonable to conclude that as we’re increasingly exposed to images of physical beauty, BDD is becoming more prevalent. Is BDD more common than it was a century ago, before advertising and other sociocultural messages extolling beauty became such a powerful influence? We don’t know the answer to this important question. But just as eating disorders have become more common, BDD may have too.*192\204\8*