The relationship between body Image cognitive fusion, body image psychological inflexibility, meaning in life and mindfulness with body dysmorphic disorder in female Students.

Body dysmorphic disorder is one of the most common adolescent disorders, which is defined as preoccupation with imaginary defect or exaggerated distortion of a minor physical defect. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship of body image-related cognitive fusion, body image psychological inflexibility, meaning of life and mindfulness with body dysmorphic disorder in a group of female students in Khoramabad city.

This is a correlation study and the population comprised of all second-grade female students in Khoramabad city in 2016-17 academic year. Of these, n=364 were selected using random cluster sampling. The data collection instruments were the modified Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale for Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire- Body Image (CFQ-BI), Body Image Psychological Inflexibility Scale (BIPIS), Engaged Living Scale (ELS) and Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS-v22.0, Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression analysis using a step-wise method.

The results showed that body image-related cognitive fusion, body image psychological inflexibility, meaning of life and mindfulness were significantly correlated with body dysmorphic disorder in female students (p<0.05). Body image-related cognitive fusion, body image psychological inflexibility, meaning of life and mindfulness played a significant role in anticipating the body dysmorphic disorder in female students. These four variables predicted 85.7% of variation in body dysmorphic disorder.

According to the results, body image-related cognitive fusion, body image psychological inflexibility, meaning of life and mindfulness can predict body dysmorphic disorder. Hence, they need to be considered in the treatment of body dysmorphic disorder.