Study Links Negative Body Image With Suicidality

(Newswire.net — October 4, 2021) Orlando, FL — Adolescents are often extremely conscious of their looks, and this impacts their psychological health.

Researchers at Bradley Hospital, Butler Hospital, and Brown Medical School carried out a study.

In this study, the investigators found a link between negative body image concerns and an increased likelihood of anxiety, depression, and suicidality in adolescents. They were compared to those without intense dissatisfaction over their appearance and adolescents with other psychiatric illnesses.

In this study, scientists evaluated the prevalence as well as the clinical correlations of body image concerns. These particularly include eating disorders (ED), body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), (such as bulimia or anorexia), and other clinically significant issues concerning shape/weight.

It is worth mentioning that this study involved adolescent inpatients at Bradley Hospital, the nation’s first psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. 

There is a classic type of BDD and it pertains to one’s preoccupation with an imagined physical defect in appearance. It could also be a vastly exaggerated concern about a minimal defect, such as a crooked nose or imperfect complexion. 

When it is weight-related, it is classified as distressing and could cause impairment in preoccupations with one’s weight and shape. This includes thinking one’s thighs are too fat or having too big a waistline. 

“These findings underscore just how central feelings about one’s appearance tend to be in the world of teenagers and how impairing these concerns can be,” says lead author, Jennifer Dyl, Ph.D., with Bradley Hospital and Brown Medical School.

This is actually the first study to demonstrate that adolescents with BDD and with shape/weight preoccupations exhibit higher levels of symptoms in areas like anxiety, depression, and suicidality.

According to Jennifer Kittler, PhD., this is important because distressing and impairing body image concerns appear to be very prevalent among adolescents with psychiatric illnesses, and are related to a higher degree of distress and impairment.

Kittler is also from Bradley Hospital and Brown Medical School.

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