Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a severely impairing yet common disorder characterized by a preoccupation with a perceived defect in physical appearance that drives an individual to perform repetitive behaviours or mental acts (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). There is a paucity of research on the behaviours involved in the maintenance of the disorder. Understanding the behaviours, their function and their effect is essential to the improvement of our treatment methods. This study seeks to examine the frequency, purpose, stopping criteria and triggers of reassurance seeking (RS) in BDD compared to healthy controls using an ecologically valid daily diary method. This study also seeks to examine how RS relates to BDD symptom severity and how individuals who engage in RS differ from those who do not. A sample of forty individuals with BDD and forty healthy controls will be recruited. Using a daily diary over 14 days, data will be gathered on the frequency, the triggers, the function, the success, and the termination criteria for RS as well as information on the perceived quality of the reassurance. It is hypothesized that individuals who have BDD will engage in significantly more RS than controls overall, especially for appearance-related triggers. Greater frequency of reassurance seeking will be associated with greater symptom severity in clinical and nonclinical groups. This study will be the first to examine RS in BDD and to utilize daily diaries in obsessive-compulsive related disorders. It will inform studies on behavioural maintenance factors in the course of BDD and will elucidate targets for intervention with families and significant others, with the goal of delivering positive, long-term treatment outcomes.