Abstract
This very useful and interesting book is actually mistitled. It is essentially a book about Body Dysmorphic Disorder BDD, and its origins. Three chapters of the 10 are overtly devoted to this topic (BDD, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for BDD and the Neurobiology and Psychopharmacology of BDD) and three are indirectly related, dealing with the differential diagnosis of BDD (Chapter 5–Disordered body image in psychiatric disorders), its role in influencing presentations to plastic surgeons/dermatologists (Chapter 4) and its origins in childhood and adolescence (Chapter 7). These chapters are complemented by one in body image disturbance in eating disorders and three more basic chapters on the origins of disturbance on body image from neurological, neurobiological and anthropological perspectives.
This dissection is not to distract from the book per se as BDD is a fascinating and much misunderstood condition, which deserves more attention than it currently receives. To my knowledge, there is only one previous monograph devoted to it, which was written by one of the coeditors, Phillips [1]. This degree of attention in regard to a disorder whose prevalence appears to be increasing, as any observer of the fitness industry or even regular attendees at the gym will attest, is not sufficient.
In some ways the book consolidates and extends the earlier publication with additional authors and a numbers of new perspectives.
The book is elegantly produced and easy to read. It will be of particular interest to consultation–liaison psychiatrists.