[Truth Is Stranger than Fiction] Body Dysmorphia, AAS Addiction, ...

[Michael Scally MD]

American Psychiatric Association Adds ‘Obsessive Categorization Of Mental Conditions’ To ‘DSM-5’
American Psychiatric Association Adds ‘Obsessive Categorization Of Mental Conditions’ To ‘DSM-5’

WASHINGTON—As part of their ongoing mission to keep their classifications updated with the most recent available findings, the American Psychiatric Association announced Thursday the supplemental addition of “Obsessive Categorization of Mental Conditions” to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people reporting an urgent, uncontrollable desire to research, report on, and catalog the symptoms of various mental disorders,” said head researcher Paula Ramos, stressing several times that the most apparent signs of OCMC include the compulsive noting of minute details regarding thousands and thousands of perceived signs of illness followed by extreme organizational tendencies and repeated attempts to achieve publication in prominent medical journals.

“Our findings indicate that this condition exists in a spectrum, with some sufferers focusing on general diseases while others are more prone to clustering within a specific subset of the mental health field. We’re confident that continued study will assist doctors in more easily identifying and treating this debilitating disorder, and what we’ve painstakingly catalogued as its 117 common variants and 286 sub-variants, so that its sufferers can go on to live productive, untroubled lives.” Ramos also suggested that OCMC itself could be merely part of a much larger, though mostly benign, mental disorder involving obsessive attempts at educating oneself in order to help others.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Esposito L, Perez FM. Neoliberalism and the Commodification of Mental Health. Humanity & Society 2014;38:414-42. SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals

This article contributes to the existing literature on neoliberalism as an ideological hegemonic project by addressing how the image of social reality it advances normalizes the medicalization of human life. Because success, virtue, and happiness in a neoliberal market society are often associated with material wealth, prestige, and “coming out on top,” it follows that normalcy itself is typically conceived along these reified objectives.

Acquiring services and/or products that might aid people to meet these results is thus viewed as benevolent and perhaps even indispensable in the pursuit of a fulfilling and productive life. What this also suggests is that integration, mental health, and human well-being become largely functions of consumerism.

We address how an emphasis on medicalization, particularly the use of psychotropic drugs, can be traced to the psychopharmacological revolution of the mid-twentieth century and its obsession with situating illness within the individual. We then address how this obsession with medicalization and the tendency to treat “mental illness” as a problem within the individual continues to be supported within the prevailing neoliberal logic that downplays the social realm, treats individuals as self-contained agents, and pathologizes thoughts and behaviors that deviate from what the market defines as functional, productive, or desirable.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Mirror, mirror - Does the fitness club industry have a body image problem?

Highlights

Longitudinal data on body image in novice exercisers in a fitness club setting, with an equitable ratio of men and women.

A linear mixed model showed improved body area and appearance satisfaction across the first year of membership.

Regular exercisers (≥2/weekly) had better outcomes on body image than those who exercised less frequently or irregularly.

Body image dissatisfaction was higher in women than in men, and among persons with overweight/obesity.


The primary aim of the present study was to report longitudinal data on body image across the first year of gym engagement. Second, we aimed to compare body image among those who reported regular use of the fitness club (≥2 sessions/week) with those who did not (≤1exercise session/week or no exercise/dropout), as well as between genders and Body Mass Index groups (BMI<25 and BMI≥25) at membership start-up.

Novice exercisers (n = 250) from 25 fitness clubs in Oslo (Norway) responded to an online questionnaire at start-up, three, six and 12-months follow-up, with a high response rate (100%, 89.6%, 85.2% and 74.8%). The questionnaire covered background/health information and exercise involvement.

A modified Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire Appearance Scales (MBSRQ-AS), comprising five subscales (appearance satisfaction, appearance investment, weight-related attitude, self-classified weight and Body Areas Satisfaction Scale (BASS), was used to gather repeated measures of body image. Data were analysed separately for each subscale and as a body image total score, using a linear mixed model adjusted for baseline, gender and BMI.

We found differences in body image total score reported at six months when compared with onset (0.04, 95% CI 0.005–0.078, p = 0.024), whereas the subscale appearance satisfaction was different at three (0.08, 95% CI 0.015–0.164, p = 0.018), six (0.11, 95% CI 0.039–0.197, p = 0.003) and twelve (0.10, 95% CI 0.021–0.179, p = 0.013) months when compared with onset.

Also the subscale BASS was different at three (0.17, 95% CI 0.009–0.255, p < 0.001), six (0.21, 95% CI 0.127–0.301, p < 0.001) and twelve (0.26, 95% CI 0.143–0.388, p < 0.001). Participants adhering to regular exercise (≥2 times weekly) had better outcomes on total body image than those who exercised less frequently or irregularly (three: 2.94 vs. 2.83, p = 0.027 and 12-months: 2.97 vs. 2.85, p = 0.028).

At membership start-up, being male (p < 0.001) and having a BMI<25 (p = 0.003), were the strongest factors associated with reporting a higher score on total body image. In conclusion, we found improved body area and appearance satisfaction in novice exercisers across the first year of fitness club membership.

Haakstad LAH, Jakobsen C, Barstad Solberg R, Sundgot-Borgen C, Gjestvang C. Mirror, mirror - Does the fitness club industry have a body image problem? Psychology of Sport and Exercise 2021;53:101880. Mirror, mirror - Does the fitness club industry have a body image problem?