A Real Live Barbie
Last weekend, reported that Heidi Montag, 23, star of The Hills, joined by her husband, Spencer Pratt, hosted the grand opening of the Liquid (Las Vegas) pool Saturday, unveiling her bikini body in a public setting for the first time since she had ten surgeries last November. My question: How many things are wrong with this one sentence? So many, but I will focus on a 23-year-old married woman having a staggering ten plastic surgery procedures in one day. Why would anyone so naturally attractive do that to herself? "For the past three years, I've thought about what to have done," the reality star tells the magazine. "I'm beyond obsessed.” And so, last November, Montag's total transformation began. Keeping even her family in the dark, the starlet embarked on her journey to become "th
e best me."
Ms. Montag is not alone in her obsession to look perfect by enduring multiple cosmetic enhancements. Celebrities and common folk alike are striving for unnatural flawlessness. Thus, cosmetic procedures are not only common, but increasingly on the rise. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) estimates that by 2015, 55 million procedures will be performed. Some researchers say the media is to blame, bombarding us with images of an ideal Barbie-doll person that is unattainable without "nips and tucks." Unbelievably, this phenomenon even has a name: Barbie syndrome. This term, coined by a San Francisco Examiner reporter in 1997, is loosely used to describe the desire to have a physical appearance and lifestyle representative of the infamous Barbie doll. Isn’t that crazy? By the way, if Barbie was a real woman she would be 5’9” tall, weigh 110lbs, wear a size 3 shoe and her measurements would be 39-18-33. Does Heidi Montag want to look like Barbie? “No,” she whispered. “I want to look like me, {but} a different improved version of myself.” When questioned why she was speaking so softly, she said, “It hurts to talk. My face feels plastic.”
Every person has a mental picture of their own body; a body image. Usually developed during adolescence, a youngster’s body image is crucial in fostering self-esteem. Unlike people with normal concerns about their physical appearance, those who are diagnosed with Body Dysmorphoric Disorder (BDD), not only dislike some aspect of their appearance, they are obsessed with it. Characterized by an excessive preoccupation with a real or imagined defect in one’s physical appearance (APA, 2000), people with BDD spend weeks, months, and years scrutinizing their defects.
Believing that the people around them notice their “defect,” people with BDD go to great lengths to examine, disguise or improve it. Many resort to expensive and painful surgeries. I know a man that has had 27 elective surgeries. “I was addicted to plastic surgery,” he told me. “I spent my days at doctors’ appointments and my money too. None of the surgeries made me happy, at least, not for long.” Finally, a doctor turned him away, suggesting a psychologist might be more beneficial and less costly. Indeed, Dr. Jonathan Schreiber, a West Hartford, CT plastic surgeon, explained this addictive behavior as similar to the alcoholic who frequents different liquor stores. “I don’t like diagnosing our clients with mental disorders, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. If I suggest another avenue toward happiness, they find another surgeon down the road.”
Researchers Gorbis and Kholodenko confirm that plastic surgery provides no help for patients with BDD because it is never good enough, and the obsession persists. After studying the high standards and expectations of people with BDD, they concluded that those with BDD develop patterns of high self-awareness. This, in turn, leads to unflattering views of self and concern over how they are perceived by others. Add to that the pressures of “walking the red carpet” and it’s no wonder Ms. Montag went so noticeably “under the knife.”
Clinicians, like those from the Westwood Institute in Los Angeles and the University of Vermont, are hoping to make the initial signs of BDD instantly recognizable to both medical professional and someday, the public. Starting with collaboration between doctors, counselors, and patients, and working toward perhaps a screening process, this cooperation could determine a young person’s motivation for wanting surgical procedures. It saddens me to think Heidi Montag went through all that when possibly a good therapist would have done the trick.
Sources: American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Wikipedia, (2008). .
Gorbis, E. & Kholodenko, Y. (2005). Plastic surgery addiction in patients with body dysmorphic disorder. Psychiatric Times, 22, 10: 79, 81-82.
Leung, R. (2004). .
Rettner, R. (2010). .
Rosen, J. C., Reiter, J. & Orosan, P. (1995). Cognitive-behavioral body image therapy for body dysmorphic disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Author: Gretchen Berke, St. Joseph’s College, West Hartford, CT
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