(ABSTRACT OF ORIGINAL STUDY AT END) * * *27 May 2011* *Washington* : A new UCLA study has revealed that 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.
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. 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. 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. "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. http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-218098.html *ABSTRACT* http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0033291711000572 Original Articles Abnormalities of object visual processing in body dysmorphic disorder J. D. Feusnera1 c1<http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8257742#cor001>, E. Hembachera2, H. Mollera1 and T. D. Moodya3 a1 Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA a2 Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA a3 Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA Abstract Background Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) may have perceptual distortions for their appearance. Previous studies suggest imbalances in detailed relative to configural/holistic visual processing when viewing faces. No study has investigated the neural correlates of processing non-symptom-related stimuli. The objective of this study was to determine whether individuals with BDD have abnormal patterns of brain activation when viewing non-face/non-body object stimuli. Method Fourteen medication-free participants with DSM-IV BDD and 14 healthy controls participated. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants matched photographs of houses that were unaltered, contained only high spatial frequency (HSF, high detail) information or only low spatial frequency (LSF, low detail) information. The primary outcome was group differences in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes. Results The BDD group showed lower activity in the parahippocampal gyrus, lingual gyrus and precuneus for LSF images. There were greater activations in medial prefrontal regions for HSF images, although no significant differences when compared to a low-level baseline. Greater symptom severity was associated with lower activity in the dorsal occipital cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex for normal spatial frequency (NSF) and HSF images. Conclusions Individuals with BDD have abnormal brain activation patterns when viewing objects. Hypoactivity in visual association areas for configural and holistic (low detail) elements and abnormal allocation of prefrontal systems for details are consistent with a model of imbalances in global *versus* local processing. This may occur not only for appearance but also for general stimuli unrelated to their symptoms. (Received September 28 2010) (Revised March 17 2011) (Accepted March 22 2011) Key Words: - Body dysmorphic disorder<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=mesh&term=Body%20dysmorphic%20disorder> ; - houses<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=mesh&term=houses> ; - perception<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=mesh&term=perception> ; - visual processing<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=mesh&term=visual%20processing> Correspondence: c1 Address for correspondence: J. D. Feusner, M.D., 300 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suite 2345, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. (Email: [email protected]) Footnotes Results presented in part at the 18th European Congress of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany, March 2010. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
