Cognitive therapy in the treatment of body dysmorphic disorder

The present investigation was the first to evaluate cognitive therapy alone to treat body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Four patients with BDD were treat ed with cognitive therapy based upon Beck's (1967) model. A single-subject multiple baseline design was used in which each subject served as his or he r own control. Patients were randomly assigned to one of two conditions in which the duration of baseline and follow-up differed. Dependent measures i ncluded the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Examination, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for Body Dysmorphic Disorder, the Body Satisfaction Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Overval ued Ideas Scale. Three of the four patients reported statistically signific ant reductions in depression, anxiety, and dissatisfaction with their body parts. Two patients showed statistically significant decreases in body dysm orphic obsessions and compulsions. Two subjects reported statistically sign ificant reductions in overvalued ideas. While the results show promise for the use of cognitive therapy in the treatment of BDD, further investigation is required. Further research is also recommended to directly compare expo sure plus response prevention to cognitive restructuring and to evaluate th eir additive effect. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.