Structural Relationships between Early Maladaptive Schemas and Body Dysmorphic Disorder Mediated by Anxiety and Over-concern

Considering the cultural and social changes of the society and the attitudes of people towards beauty and the attention of people to appearances and tendency to make changes in order to achieve beauty, concern with appearances and distorted physical image could be preoccupy people with their body and make them prone to body dysmorphic disorder. The purpose of this study was to determine structural relationships between early maladaptive schemas and body dysmorphic disorder mediated by anxiety and over-concern. In this descriptive-correlational study, 300 women at dermatology clinic in Qaemshahr during a 6-month period were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were collected via practical obsessive-compulsive questionnaire, initial maladaptive schema, anxiety inventory, and anxiety test. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS-22 and Lisrel 8.80 software by structural equations. The mean (SD) age of participants was 22 (2.4). Increased scandal score with mean (SD) of 3.5 (0.5) was associated with increased physical deformity score with mean (SD) of 3.7 (0.5) (P<0.001). Increased anxiety score with mean (SD) of 3.5 (0.5) and over-concern score with a mean (SD) of 3.6 (0.6) as intermediary variables, the effect of early maladaptive schemas on body dysmorphic disorder was increased compared to their direct relationship (P<0.001). The study showed that increasing score of maladaptive scales resulted in increased score of deformity disorder. In addition, increased score of anxiety and anxiety thoughts as intermediary variables, resulted in increased effect of early maladaptive schema on dysmorphic body disorder compared to the direct relationship between them.