Some Artists and Designers Have Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Do you know that some artists and designers have body dysmorphic disorder?
People with body dysmorphic disorder--an obsession with imagined physical flaws--are often drawn to careers in art and design. A group of psychiatrists compiled data about 400 mental-health patients, 100 with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and 100 each with severe depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twenty percent of those with BDD were employed or educated in art or design, compared with 4 percent of those with serious depression, 3 percent with OCD, and none with PTSD. Parents might develop a more critical eye, which is then applied to their own appearances. Or they may have "idealized values about the importance of appearance, which have become overidentified with the self." Also undetermined is whether the artistic bent helps or hurts--deflecting attention from sufferers' own looks or making the preoccupation worse.
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