Interoceptive awareness in Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Interoceptive awareness in Body Dysmorphic Disorder
IRAS ID
124304
Contact name
Michelle Pratt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway, University of London
Research summary
This study will investigate whether people with a diagnosis of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) have a difficulty in recognising their own internal bodily signals, by using a heartbeat detection task. This ability has been found to be heightened in anxiety disorders where people are very conscious of their internal feelings such as their heartbeat; and lowered in eating disorders where people may find it more difficult to connect with internal sensations e.g. hunger. People with a diagnosis of BDD are anxious, but their anxiety focuses upon their own physical appearance. The ability of people with a diagnosis of BDD to identify bodily signals has never been investigated. If this was found to be an area of difficulty for people with BDD, this may be a new marker for the disorder and also may impact on future treatment approaches. The study will be conducted at the Centre for Anxiety and Disorders and Trauma at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and Royal Holloway, University of London, in Surrey. Participants will be males and females aged 18 years and above. Participants will include people with a diagnosis of BDD, people with a diagnosis of anxiety but not BDD (of various types), and people with no known diagnosis. Participants in the study will be asked to attend one research session which will last for around one hour, where they will be asked to complete a heartbeat detection task twice. This will involve their finger being attached to a monitor which measures their actual heart rate while they are asked to estimate this. This task has been found to be a very reliable indicator of people’s ability to recognise their own bodily sensations. Participants will also be asked to complete several questionnaires during this session to rate their symptoms of BDD or anxiety.
REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/0760
Date of REC Opinion
12 Aug 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion