Constantly striving to be beautiful and handsome is a personality disorder!

Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan noted that 'Body Dysmorphic Disorder' in psychiatry is the equivalent of giving importance to appearance or over-magnifying something that one sees as a flaw in their body by dealing with appearance excessively, and said that "In daily language, we can also describe this as the fear of being ugly, the fear of ugliness."

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that "What makes a person beautiful is actually their cuteness, people are greeted with physical appearance; however, they are sent off with their personalities... Therefore, physical appearance should not be the priority. These people cannot be at peace with themselves."

President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan evaluated the issue of obsession with appearance.

"It has a wide range of things that go from a simple obsession with appearances to a disorder"

Prof. Tarhan noted that 'Body Dysmorphic Disorder' is the psychiatric equivalent of giving importance to appearance or over-magnifying something that a person sees as a flaw in their body by overreacting to their appearance, and Tarhan expressed that "In daily language, we can also describe this as the fear of being ugly or the fear of ugliness. For instance, there is a fear of being overweight. One feels like they weigh 150 kilos, even though they weigh 29 kilos. This person's whole everyday life begins to deteriorate. They were the only subject they brought up, and that was the only interest. One research about it on the Internet, and after a while one becomes delusional. After a certain period of time, bodily delirium can turn into delusion, which we call somatic delirium. It has a wide range of subjects, ranging from a simple obsession with appearances to a disorder. In recent years, we see that this has increased a lot, especially in young people, physical appearance has become very important."

The perception of 'If you are beautiful, you are valuable, if you are not beautiful, you are worthless' is increasing in our country...

Stating that physical appearance comes to the fore with adolescence as a natural feature of youth, Prof. Tarhan said that "At that time, if the child grows up with a perception such as 'if you are beautiful, you are valuable, if you are not beautiful, you are worthless' in the family, if there is such a value judgment, then this becomes a learned behavior. This is very common in Western culture, and it is increasing in our country. We started to see more cases of this among young people. Even the healthiest person, especially one who sees a fashion magazine, feels ugly. That is how it is handled. There is a famous saying they use: ‘There are no ugly women, there are neglected ones.’ This has created a serious industry by using cultural propaganda."

"Obsession with appearance has started to be seen severely in men"

Stating that the obsession with appearance has started to be seen seriously in men, Prof. Tarhan also pointed out the point that Türkiye has reached a peak in terms of hair transplant.

Prof. Tarhan stated that "People's priorities have changed a lot. An appearance-oriented, pleasure-oriented period is coming,” and Tarhan explained that the issue of psychological resilience was discussed at the World Economic Forum held in Davos because psychological resilience also affects the economy.

Pointing out that people's spending and purchasing behavior has changed, Prof. Tarhan stated that "People are now becoming easier, avoiding difficult jobs. This has also negatively affected the supply chain. In this economy, people do not aspire to hard work. The pandemic also impacted this. Of course, not everyone is affected by this."

The effect of constantly trying to be beautiful and handsome on personality disorders...

Evaluating the effect of the constant effort to be beautiful and handsome on personality disorders, Prof. Tarhan stated that "This effort is also present in the symptoms of personality disorders. We call such people 'narcissistic invested in their physical appearance'. What do we understand by a person's narcissistic investing? An investment of love... The investment of love focuses on whatever a person is doing. The most narcissistic being is the children. Children show their love for themselves, they think they are at the center of the world, and they think that everyone exists for them. As children grow older, they begin to say ‘me and others’ and learn about other objects of love. As children grow up, they invest their love for their country, their homeland, humanity, nature, the creator, all of them. It depends on the person."

Stating that people who are obsessed with their appearance react as if all hell broke loose when a small pimple appeared on their body, Prof. Tarhan said that these people go to aesthetic specialists too much.

"Anxiety increases when a person sees aging as a threat"

Emphasizing the effort not to age, Prof. Tarhan made the following remarks:

"Fear of getting old is the most common thing in this age. For a person to be happy, one must be accepting this. It used to be called anti-aging; however, now it is called healthy aging at congresses. When a person sees aging as a threat, anxiety increases. Seeing aging as a threat in humans is like seeing rain as a threat. It is a natural state. The only fact of life without exception, that is, the fact of death. When you do not accept that and getting older, it leads to anxiety and fear. Living in fear also makes you a candidate for depression. The person tries to relax themselves by having more fun. Or rebuilding their philosophy of life… And this leads to wisdom. A little bit of fear of getting older is something to be expected."

"A person can live up to 140 years of age depending on lifestyle and genetics"

Emphasizing that it is normal to be anxious about aging and the importance of accepting aging, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that "They ask the 92-year-old lady, she is very happy, they ask her ‘what do you owe this happiness?’ She says that I think about my organs that work, not my organs that do not work. From the same point of view, if a person cannot change the flow, they will change the view... In this case, it is a fact that old age cannot be changed."

Prof. Tarhan, who also suggested that people accept aging and focus on how to do healthy aging, expressed that "People grow up with what they eat until a certain age, and after a certain age, they live with what they do not eat. For this reason, 60 to 70 percent of some diseases are caused by improper diet and wrong lifestyle. Depending on human lifestyle and genetics, people can live up to 140 years old."

What is body image disorder?

Referring to body perception disorder, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan continued his remarks as follows:

"There is a test of this. When you do the test, the patient is shown various sizes. Thin, medium, overweight body is shown. They are asked in which of these they find their own body. We mark which part of your body you do not like. In those images, the person marks the parts of their own body that they do not like. We treat. After the treatment, we do the test again. This time, they say 'I focused too much on the parts of their body that they do not like, it was unnecessary. There is a fear of being physically ugly in these people.

Between men and women, it is more common in women. It is more common in young people, but it is also seen more in men who are older, single and live alone. This disease becomes a result of a person taking disproportionate care of their body and constantly obsessing over their physical defect in a disproportionate way. In such cases, the person spends all their resources on it. One borrows money or takes out loans, and they have surgeries or go to beauty centers. When we investigated, most of them had bad life events in their childhood. We see a lot of childhood trauma in these patients."

"People whose priority is physical appearance cannot be at peace with themselves"

Stating that what makes a woman beautiful is not her physical appearance, but her cuteness, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that "What makes a person beautiful is actually their cuteness, people are greeted with physical appearance; however, they are sent off with their personalities... Therefore, physical appearance should not be the priority. These people are not at peace with themselves. One thinks that some of these people are overweight. Some, such as transsexuals, feel like they are trapped in the wrong body. They are trying to change your body because they think they are in the wrong body.”

"When the infrastructure in the brain improves, therapy also works"

Stating that people who are obsessed with appearance can be treated, Prof. Tarhan said that "The network in the brain is disrupted in these people. The brain areas related to the physical appearance of these people are as wide as the highway... Because a lot of investment is made there, it develops much more in the brain. For this reason, these people are hospitalized, treated, the part of the body that the brain is obsessed with is brought to mind, and provocations are made. With visual provocation, a magnetic stimulus is given to that area of the brain at that moment. If this is hypersensitivity and receptor sensitivity in that area of the person's brain is high, it is decreased. When the infrastructure in the brain improves, therapy works."

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)