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Biomedical subjects

David Veale

Publications and source records attributed to David Veale.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

A compelling desire for deafness.

A case is described of a patient who has a compelling and persistent desire to become deaf. She often kept cotton wool moistened with oil in her ears and was learning sign language. Living without sound appeared to be a severe form of avoidance behavior from hyperacusis and misophonia. She had a borderline personality disorder that was associated with a poor sense of self. Her desire to be deaf may be one aspect of gaining an identity for herself and to compensate for feeling like an alien and gaining acceptance in the Deaf community. Will a compelling desire for deafness ever become a recognized mental disorder one day for which hearing patients may be offered elective deafness after a period of assessment and living like a deaf person? Those working in the field of deafness should be aware that individuals may occasionally be seeking elective deafness or self-inflicting deafness to obtain a hearing aid.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Spontaneously occurring images and early memories in people with body dysmorphic disorder.

A semi-structured interview assessing the presence and characteristics of spontaneous appearance-related images was designed and administered. A total of 18 patients with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and 18 normal controls took part. The BDD patients were found to have spontaneously occurring appearance-related images that were significantly more negative, recurrent, and viewed from an observer perspective than control participants. These images were more vivid and detailed and typically involved visual and organic (internal body) sensations. The study also found that BDD images were linked to early stressful memories, and that images were more likely than verbal thoughts to be linked to these memories. Implications for theory and clinical practice are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Self-discrepancy in body dysmorphic disorder.

OBJECTIVES: According to self-discrepancy theory (SDT), depression, social anxiety, eating disorders and paranoia result from different types of conflicting self-beliefs. Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) consists of a preoccupation with imagined or slight defects in one's appearance, which is often associated with a depressed mood and social anxiety. SDT was therefore applied to BDD patients to further understand their beliefs about their appearance. DESIGN: Using a comparative group design, BDD patients were compared against a non-patient control group. METHOD: A sample of 149 participants, consisting of three groups - BDD (72), BDD preoccupied with their weight and shape (35), and controls (42) - completed a modified version of the Selves Questionnaire (Higgins, Bond, Klein, & Strauman, 1986) requiring them to list and rate physical characteristics according to the following standpoints: (a) self-actual; (b) self-ideal; (c) self-should; (d) other-actual; and (e) other-ideal. RESULTS: BDD patients displayed significant discrepancies between their self-actual and both their self-ideal and self-should. However, there were no significant discrepancies in BDD patients between their self-actual and other-actual or other-ideal domains. Analysis of variance using depression and social anxiety scores as covariates revealed a significant difference for both the self-ideal and self-should discrepancy. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that BDD patients have an unrealistic ideal or demand as to how they should look. BDD patients are more like depressed patients (rather than social phobics or bulimics), being more concerned with a failure to achieve their own aesthetic standard than with the perceived ideals of others.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Possible association of body dysmorphic disorder with an occupation or education in art and design.

OBJECTIVE: The authors hypothesized that because patients with body dysmorphic disorder are preoccupied with their appearance and aesthetics, they are more likely to have an occupation or education in art and design than patients with other psychiatric disorders. METHOD: Information on occupation and higher education or training was extracted from the case notes of 100 consecutive patients with body dysmorphic disorder and compared with the same information for 100 patients with a major depressive episode, 100 with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and 100 with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). RESULTS: Twenty percent of the patients with body dysmorphic disorder had an occupation or education in art or design, compared with 4% of the patients with major depressive episode, 3% of those with OCD, and 0% of those with PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: Onset of body dysmorphic disorder is usually gradual during adolescence, and an education in art and design may be a contributory factor to its development in some patients. An equally plausible explanation is that patients with body dysmorphic disorder tend to have an interest in aesthetics.

Adult↗