The Prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder in Adolescents of Gonabad County in 2014

Introduction: Attention of adolescents to their physical appearanceincrease at adolescence period, and the appearance and physical characteristics become increasingly important for them. Therefore is evident that body dysmorphic disorder at this stage of life is higher than other stages of life. Body dysmorphic disorder is chronic and debilitating disorder in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to investigate prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder in adolescents of Gonabad County in 2014.

Method: The present study was cross-sectional. Statistical population of study was all of boys and girls who were enrolled in secondary schools of Gonabad County in 2013-2014 academic years. Statistical sample consisted of 1,522 students who were selected by stratified random sampling method.The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale was used to collect data. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and chi-square test with SPSS-16 software.

Results: The results showed that 21.8% of them had body dysmorphic disorder. The prevalence of Body dysmorphic disorder was obtained in girls (23/4%) and in boys (20/2%).Results of Chi square test showed that there was no significant relationship between gender and age with body dysmorphic disorder (P>0.05).

Conclusion: The results indicated that the prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder is high at adolescents of Gonabad County. Adolescent negative thoughts about appearance causes that individual's performance at school and social environment become less than desirable and show high psychological disturbances.