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Muscle Dysmorphia

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Eating Disorders in Boys and Men

Abstract

Muscle dysmorphia (MD) is a disorder in which individuals have persistent, distressing thoughts that they are not muscular enough, in addition to a persistent fear of muscle loss. MD is associated with severe psychopathology, such as suicide, eating pathology, anabolic steroid abuse, etc. MD is currently classified as a subtype of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which has caused a nosological debate in the field. Some argue for MD’s classification as an eating disorder due to its high rates of comorbid eating pathology; yet others argue for it to remain under BDD, due to MD’s body image distortion and pervasive thoughts about muscularity. While the cause of MD is unknown, certain models posit that the internalization of appearance ideals interact with personality traits or environmental factors, potentially culminating in MD. Certain forms of cognitive behavioral therapy have shown to be effective in treating BDD and include modules on MD, but efficacy trials regarding the specific treatment of MD have yet to be conducted. However, dissonance-based interventions such as The Body Project have shown to be effective in preventing the onset of MD symptoms. Future research on MD must focus on recruiting clinical samples in order to challenge or confirm what is currently known about MD primarily through convenience samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    William Grunewald & Aaron J. Blashill

  2. Department of Psychology, San Diego State University/University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA, USA

    Aaron J. Blashill

Authors
  1. William Grunewald
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  2. Aaron J. Blashill
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Correspondence to Aaron J. Blashill .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Jason M. Nagata

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Tiffany A. Brown

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USC Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Stuart B. Murray

  4. Department of Medicine, Military Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (MiCOR) Program, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, The Metis Foundation, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jason M. Lavender

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Grunewald, W., Blashill, A.J. (2021). Muscle Dysmorphia. In: Nagata, J.M., Brown, T.A., Murray, S.B., Lavender, J.M. (eds) Eating Disorders in Boys and Men. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67127-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67127-3_8

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