This Monday, October 28, 2024, Mathieu’s father speaks in several media. His 24-year-old son killed himself last June after a failed beard transplant in Türkiye. A drama that highlights dysmorphophobia, from which stars like Robbie Williams and Megan Fox also suffer. This article, published in August 2023, helps to understand this phatology.
“I could write a book about self-loathing when it comes to my body image. Like pure self-hatred, the ugliness of feeling ugly. » This message does not come from a teenager experiencing a crisis of self-esteem, but from a superstar and a sex symbol for all (and all) of his fans. This is the British singer Robbie Williams, the same one who exposes his heavily tattooed torso to the delight of his groupies.
A dream body for many people which does not prevent him from describing in this Instagram publication a “body dysmorphia” or dysmorphophobia which causes him psychological suffering. What is this mental pathology? How is it triggered? Who can suffer from it? 20 Minutes asked these questions to Michaël Stora, psychologist, psychoanalyst and founder of the Observatory of Digital Worlds in the Human Sciences.
What is dysmorphophobia?
Dysmorphophobia, which may also be called body dysmorphia or body dysmorphia, “is a mental health condition in which a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance. These defects often go unnoticed by others,” explains the NHS, the British health department. It is one of the phobias, which, in general, “are considered from the psychopathological point of view on the side of neuroses, often not serious”, develops Michaël Stora. But behind certain phobias, there can be “a narcissistic fragility” which affects “more serious, even psychiatric pathologies”, he adds. A person suffering from this pathology will therefore have a tendency to focus on a part of their body which becomes responsible for their anxiety, or even their depression. This can even lead to suicidal tendencies.
Dysmorphophobia can also be, according to the psychologist, of a societal nature. Michaël Stora then compares it to what he calls “societal anorexia” which, according to him, “affects young girls who do not suffer from anorexia nervosa but have its symptoms”. By seeing an ideal of beauty transmitted on social networks, notably Instagram, the social network of image and perfection, a form of “proximity” with the personalities we follow develops and thus the illusion of ‘an attainable beauty. And it goes even further, hence the troubles caused. “With social networks, the image is no longer just an appearance status but an existential one, if the moment is not posted, it does not exist,” warns Michaël Stora, also author of (a)social networks: discover the dark side of algorithms (Larousse).
How does it develop?
As with many psychiatric pathologies, childhood, and the relationship with parents, is one of the factors in the development of dysmorphophobia, according to Michaël Stora. “Narcissistic pathologies are linked to the question of an ideal, the first to idealize us are our parents, they are our first mirrors. They can over-idealize their child, like an image and not as he really is, which risks creating a “false self”, a notion labeled by the British psychoanalyst Donald Woods Winnicott. The “false self” refers to the self determined by the environment, and in particular the figure of the mother. “It’s the idea that idealization prevails over the child’s real personality,” summarizes Michaël Stora.
A phenomenon that has grown with cell phones equipped with cameras and, again, social networks. Parents increasingly take photos of their children, share their image on social networks and, for the psychologist, “put a distance with the child, he becomes an image of what they project onto him”. It is then during adolescence that everything is likely to resurface “in a powerful way”. Because adolescence is a period when self-image changes and becomes a very important issue in daily life.
Who may be affected?
Dysmorphophobia does not discriminate. Everyone can be affected, girls and boys alike. Moreover, we see more and more young men squatting in weight rooms. Although it mainly concerns young people, dysmorphophobia can also be triggered in adulthood, but we are then talking more about societal dysmorphophobia. People in their thirties and forties can also be confronted with the plastic ideals of social networks.
And when you’re a celebrity like Robbie Williams, or Megan Fox who also admitted to suffering from body dysmorphia, the pressure is even greater. Being an ideal of beauty, an actor, a singer “already implies this narcissistic fragility”, underlines Michaël Stora. These celebrities are often stuck in this image that we give them. As a result, they are not immune to being affected by this pathology, which is “a source of a lot of sadness and hidden depression,” notes the psychologist. A dismay which is felt in the testimony of the British singer: “The struggle is real, the sadness shocking. I’ve had it my whole life and it will never go away. »
