Can one have body dysmorphic disorder and see body problems that arn't there and not obsess over them?Or in order to say one has this do their whole lives have to be focused on the issue?
Answer:
The diagnostic criteria require that the patient suffer "clinically important distress" or "impaired work, social, or personal functioning." Admittedly these are rather vague descriptions, but I believe they both reflect some degree of obsession. [In fact OCD is sometimes comorbid with BDD].
So if a (hypothetical) patient perceived some imaginary disfigurement and wasn't particularly concerned about it, I suppose BDD would be excluded as a diagnosis. The answer to the question would then be: a person cannot have BDD without obsessing over their appearance.
That hypothetical case seems very unlikely to me, but I have no proof that it couldn't happen.
Yes, my mom tells me I have it. I see a zit and it looks like 10 times worse to me than it is to other people. I obsess over it by trying to cover it up.
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