Alongside packed bookshelves and the usual office furniture, two
walls of Dr. Eda Gorbis’ Westwood office are a fun house.
One mirror arches off the wall ““ the curved glass reflects
the unfortunate gazer with a grotesquely elongated torso, enlarged
head and stubby legs. Another mirror stretches the reflected face
horizontally like silly putty.
As a clinical psychologist at the Westwood Institute for Anxiety
Disorders, Gorbis treats patients with body dysmorphic disorder who
see a similarly distorted image every time they look into their
bathroom mirror.
“They believe that they are really ugly, and there is no
way to fix the problem,” said Gorbis, who is also an
assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of
Medicine. “They look into the mirror and they don’t see
what we see.”
These BDD patients will seek unnecessary cosmetic surgery
procedures or even attempt to cut their own faces in the pursuit of
unattainable physical perfection.
The condition is a more serious, but less recognized, subset of
obsessive compulsive disorder and afflicts 6 million Americans. The
disorder often results in clinical depression, social withdrawal
and sometimes suicide.
“There were times that I had to take out the trash or go
to the grocery store to get water, and I wouldn’t go because
I was horrified for anybody to see me,” said one of
Gorbis’ BDD patients who preferred to remain anonymous.
“I would rather not drink water and just be thirsty than go
outside.”
Gorbis uses the fun-house mirrors and other methods to
externalize her patients’ inner distortions and allow them to
see how ridiculous their own perceptions are.
“I used to not be able to leave the house without makeup
at all, and I’ve been two-and-a-half weeks with no
makeup,” the patient said. “The amount of hours I have
back in my life to do other things is amazing.”
A serious neurological disease, BDD is based upon the issues of
body image that affect everyone ““ especially residents of
Southern California.
“Here (in Los Angeles), people are obsessed with body
image more than anywhere else, but that is not an illness,”
Gorbis said. “Looking into the mirror more than an hour a day
and doing unnecessary procedures, that’s when it becomes a
problem.”
But many of these self-image issues are often induced by leaving
home and the pressures of belonging in a college community.
For UCLA students, that community ““ draped by red carpets
and celebrity mug shots ““ lies in the shadows of Hollywood
hills.
“Students are away from home for the first time, living in
the residence halls with a smorgasbord style of food available to
them,” said Tina Oakland, director of the Center for Women
and Men at UCLA.
“They are facing the pressure to fit in, and one of the
many ways that manifests is the pressure to have the ideal
body.”
Societal guidelines of beauty exude from fashion magazines,
movies and the recent deluge of television shows such as
“Extreme Makeover” and “America’s Next Top
Model.”
Even the warm temperatures Southern Californians love to brag
about are a factor ““ warmer climates have been associated
with ample opportunities to bring out halter tops and shorts and,
therefore, issues of body image, Oakland said.
These pressures can ultimately push someone under the knife.
“Plastic surgery can be life-changing for people and
medically necessary in some cases,” said Dr. George Rudkin,
assistant professor in the UCLA Division of Plastic and
Reconstructive Surgery. “But there are people that come in
with unrealistic expectations because of the media
influence.”
Shows like “Extreme Makeover,” in which a
participant undergoes several procedures from breast implants to
LASIK eye surgery to dramatically alter their appearance, have
increased the awareness of what plastic surgery can do.
Rudkin has seen a steady increase in the patients seeking
cosmetic surgery, as the various procedures are becoming more
socially accepted.
“There’s less of a stigma now and some patients are
really quite proud to announce that they have had plastic
surgery,” he said.
Rudkin has observed another trend in a growing number of male
patients. Men are increasingly facing many of the same media
pressures that women have faced for decades when it comes to
appearance.
Although much of the pressure is directed at young people in
their 20s, most cosmetic surgery patients continue to be those in
the pursuit of an elusive fountain of youth.
“People are living a lot longer today and people are much
healthier at an older age,” Rudkin said. “The majority
of people who are coming in are older people. They want to look
younger.”
While most UCLA students might not yet have to worry about
wrinkles, those feeling other types of pressure can find resources
for body image issues from Student Psychological Services or the
Center for Women and Men.
Oakland stresses the importance of fitness and a well-balanced
diet, both of which can improve one’s self-image without
unhealthy obsessions, surgical procedures or fun-house mirrors.