Muscle Dysmorphia

Letter to the Editor

Sir: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a preoccupation with an imagined or slight defect in appearance, is receiving increasing clinical and research attention. Although most individuals with BDD are preoccupied with a particular body part (e.g., nose, skin, hair), some are preoccupied with their entire body, thinking it is too small and insufficiently muscular. This concern— sometimes colloquially referred to as bigarexia by body builders and previously termed reverse anorexia in the literature— is perhaps more accurately called muscle dysmorphia.