Treatment
Studies have found that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is effective in the majority of cases. In a study of 54 BDD patients who were randomly assigned to cognitive behavior therapy or no treatment, BDD symptoms decreased significantly in those patients undergoing CBT. BDD was eliminated in 82% of cases at post treatment and 77% at follow-up.
Since BDD is believed to be linked to low serotonin levels in the brain, SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and other antidepressants are commonly prescribed. 74 subjects were enrolled in a placebo-controlled study group to evaluate the efficiency of fluoxetine (Prozac); patients were enrolled in a 12-weeks, double-blind, randomized study. At the end of treatment, 53% of patients responded to the fluoxetine.
A combined approach of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and antidepressants is more effective than either alone. The dose of a given antidepressant is usually more effective when it exceeds the maximum recommended doses that are given for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or a major depressive episode.
Read more about this topic: Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose successful treatment depends on the patient learning to love the analyst more and himself less.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“I am glad you agree with me as to the treatment of the mining riots. We shall crush out the lawbreakers if the courts and juries do not fail.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, “Go to sleep by yourselves.” And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)