First Controlled Study of Muscle Dysmorphia

July 20, 2000
Release No. 00-35

Kimberly Cordero
202/682-6394
[email protected]

First Controlled Study of Muscle Dysmorphia Published

The first controlled study of muscle dysmorphia found that weightlifters with the disorder differed strikingly from normal weightlifters on many measures, including body dissatisfaction, eating attitudes, prevalence of anabolic steroid use, and lifetime prevalence of mood, anxiety and eating disorders. The study is published in the August 2000 American Journal of Psychiatry.

Muscle dysmorphia is an individual's chronic preoccupation with the notion that he or she is not sufficiently muscular. People with the disorder, dubbed in previous studies as "reverse anorexia nervosa," display traits similar to individuals with eating disorders, "in that the pursuit of 'bigness' shows remarkable parallels to the pursuit of thinness," according to the study.

Muscle dysmorphia can impair social and occupational functioning, cause subjective distress, and can lead to a chronic use of performance-enhancing drugs. (It is a subtype of body dysmorphic disorder in which subjects are preoccupied with the imagined ugliness of a specific body part.)

When asked if they spend more than three hours per day thinking about their muscularity, 50 percent of the group with muscle dysmorphia agreed. When asked if they had little or no control over their compulsive weightlifting and dietary regimens, 54 percent of the group concurred. The enjoyable activities the group most frequently reported avoiding were social gatherings with friends, family and significant others.

"One subject missed his high school reunion for fear that people would mock his 'smallness,'" the authors noted.

The researchers conclude that most weightlifters do not exhibit elevated levels of psychopathology, whereas those with muscle dysmorphia exhibit prominent impairment. They suggest future research should explore the epidemiology of the "often-secret" syndrome and potential treatments for it.

["Muscle Dysmorphia in Male Weightlifters: A Case-Control Study," by Roberto Olivardia, Ph.D., Harrison G. Pope, Jr., M.D., et. al., p. 1291, American Journal of Psychiatry]

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