Connections between Body Dysmorphic Disorder and gender?

[purpletomato]

Hi all,

Can anyone exposit upon the relation between BDD and gender? I was reading the Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder), but it doesn't seem to have references to GID or gender. It does mention that specific BDD-like instances, e.g. weight concern, are better classified as another disorder, e.g. an eating disorder.

I have some of the symptoms (some body OCD, suicidal ideation in the past, social withdrawl, repetitively checking self-appearance), but not others (inability to work, chronic low self-esteem, avoidant / dependent personality). In "The Transgender Child", the authors mention transgendered individuals who had body issues foremost. (I have social issues as well, but they tend not to be the primary source of unhappiness.) I'm curious what the connection is between GID and BDD, and in particular what makes (according to Wikipedia) individuals with BDD less responsive to e.g. cosmetic surgery.

Thanks!

(Also, any good references, which don't require psychology knowledge, would be helpful.)

[kristoff]

There's actually seldom any significant connection between BDD and GID, though definitely not impossible. More often what is assumed to be BDD is either some form of OCD or a BIID.

You can read about BIID here, but what you write does not suggest it.

http://www.eunuch.org/forums/showthr...and-Castration

[transward]

Anne Lawrence caught a whole lot of shit (perhaps justified) for publishing the paper Amputation and Gender Identity Disorder (http://www.annelawrence.com/amputation-GID.pdf) comparing GID with Body integrity identity disorder, the desire for unneeded amputation. BIID is sometimes considered a subset of BDD.

Its lengthy and not that interesting so I am not going to quote it here.

Transward

[Jesus]

Kristoff has added BIID to the discussion here of BDD and GID. These are three very different things that seldom overlap. What I will attempt is a very lay and unprofessional set of definitions (with no jargon included). Without all of the details and “professional” wording, this should be taken as approximate, rather than definitive.

BDD – Body Dysmorphic Disorder
BDD is a strong feeling that the body is not as it should be, but can be corrected and improved by relatively minor plastic surgery. The “corrections” are seldom sufficient, however, leading to repeated face-lifts, liposuction, breast augmentation, or whatever else is necessary to produce the “ideal” and “perfect” body. No matter what “improvements” are made, they never seem to be quite enough.

BIID – Body Integrity Identity Disorder
BIID is the “knowledge” that some part of the body does not belong. It simply should not be there and the person feels disturbed so long as it is present. The most common body parts that don’t seem to belong are the penis (32% of ALL recorded cases, including both males and females with BIID) or a lower limb (25%). Removing the offending body part usually results in a full cure of the disorder. For those whose BIID includes testicles that “need” to be removed, the person is usually very happy being male and wants full hormone replacement therapy once he is castrated. It’s not the “maleness” that is the problem, but the presence of the offending body parts. The onset for BIID is usually quite young. Little boys may “know” that their penis does not belong (and actually try removing it) as young as 4 or 5 years old.

GID – Gender Identity Disorder
GID is when the gender identity of the brain does not match the sex of the body. When a baby is born, it is assigned a sex (male or female) based on the external plumbing between its legs. (Some few are born intersex, which is an entirely different subject.) This assigned sex usually, but not always, reflects chromosome status – XX or XY (leaving out all of the other variants for a different discussion). There are a number of cases where plumbing and chromosomes do not match, which are also outside this discussion. GID is when the gender of the brain does not match the assigned sex of the body. Male-to-Female is the most common form of GID. For MtF (or any other GID), onset can be in childhood, but can also come at puberty or much later in life with a realization that, while the body is male, with fully functional penis and testicles, the person is “really” female in the most important ways. There are other forms of GID beyond the frequently discussed Male-to-Female and Female-to-Male. There is growing recognition in the professional community that Male-to-Eunuch is relatively common. Once a gender transition is completed (hormonally, surgically, or just by deciding to live in one’s gender with the body one is born with), the person is “cured” of any disorder and can go on to live a perfectly happy and normal life.

BIID and GID can most easily be cured by reshaping the body to match the brain. BDD can only be cured by changing the brain to accept the body as it is.

[purpletomato]

I see; in a sentence, BDD is distinguished by wanting to aesthetically improve a body part, instead of wanting to remove / "replace" it (even if old parts are used, e.g. in construction of a neovagina).

The terminology was confusing for me; e.g. castration is a "body / genital modification", and can feel like a "correction".

It seemed to me that some cosmetic surgeries, like breast reductions (at least searching "breast reduction patient satisfaction rates" shows positive statements) or labia trimming (see Patient Satisfaction paragraph in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labiapl...cial_criticism ) have decent satisfaction rates. Wikipedia mentions the latter is often related to BDD, so perhaps certain types of BDD can be addressed by surgery?

[kristoff]

It seemed to me that some cosmetic surgeries, like breast reductions (at least searching "breast reduction patient satisfaction rates" shows positive statements) or labia trimming (see Patient Satisfaction paragraph in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labiapl...cial_criticism ) have decent satisfaction rates. Wikipedia mentions the latter is often related to BDD, so perhaps certain types of BDD can be addressed by surgery?

The difference is that, usually, with BDD, ultimate satisfaction is seldom achieved. Even with the very desired "correction," the desire often shifts or expands. One generally does not find this to be the case with BIID - generally, once the achieved change/correction is achieved, no further desire to correct is found.

[punkypink]

I would say that BDD, BIID and GID are 3 seperate issues that unfortunately occur concurrently in many transgendered individuals.