This is the abstract I sent to Sevilla (Spain) for the next
EFNS congress.
Comments welcome.
Renato Cocchi MD
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Dysmorphophoby as a Neuropsychological Disorder of the
Equivalence Process Mechanism.
Dysmorphofoby, now termed Body Dysmorphism Disorder (DSM-
IV: F45.2), is a preoccupation of imagined defects in
physical appearance, in well shaped individuals. Most claims
have the face as privileged field of preoccupation.
Although not separated, in this disorder we can found
either claims of having a part of the face too large or the
opposite. I think those claims related to two distinct
perceptive phenomena, the first leading to blow up physical
traits, while the second goes towards the opposite way.
The so-called equivalence process mechanism allows the
recognition of the familiar faces, even his/her own face. It
compares the present face's perception to all memorized
perceptions of that same face, affirming, or denying, that
the present face and memorized clues belong to the same
person.
To do this it needs to magnify or lower any factual
difference induced by natural or pathologic processes that
modify facial traits. The growing old, or a massive use of
cortisonics, are both good examples of them.
The dis-integration between the global perception of a face
and the perception of the features of it as analysed by
particulars, leads to a failure of the equivalence process.
Among many described failures of this complex process,
dysmorphophopby is that of either these two steps, magnifying
or lowering, leading to a lack of identification.
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