Body Dysmorphic Disorder

The current study aims to explore the efficacy of a text message based safety behavior fading intervention compared to a progressive muscle relaxation intervention for appearance concerns.

The purpose of this study is to understand why some individuals respond fully to cognitive behavioral therapy and others do not, based on multiple sources of data such as neural, neurocognitive, clinical, and self-report data.

A core symptom of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is perceptual distortions for appearance, which contributes to poor insight and delusionality, limits engagement in treatment, and puts individuals at risk for relapse. Results from this study will provide a comprehensive mechanistic model of brain, behavioral, and emotional contributors to abnormal perceptual processing, as well as how malleable it is with visual modulation techniques. This will lay the groundwork for next-step translational perceptual retraining approaches.