Dorian Gray Syndrome

Do you know Dorian Gray syndrome? Today I explain its main characteristics, how to detect it to know if you suffer from it and what you can do to overcome it.

It only takes barely half an hour and a bit of zapping to realize that the media promotes an eternally young and beautiful society, with enviable bodies. That is a reality, although it is something impossible to achieve. The body, like a fruit, has a period of maturity and a moment of maximum splendor just before it shrivels and rots. Although we all know that eternal youth is a thing of movies, we get frustrated when we see how our bodies degrade over time. That happens to most people, since we live under the influence of what beauty standards dictate. But not everyone develops a pathology.

We are used to thinking about women when someone says body image disorder While it is true that culturally and socially, women are beaten much more with the canons of beauty, men are not exempt from it either, and even less so in recent times. Society dictates that a man must have an athletic body, with marked pectorals and abs, he must have hair and an attractive and sensual face. The topic of hair is something that especially catches my attention. Although baldness is very common in men, if you look closely you will not see many bald men on television programs, news programs, series or movies and when they do appear, they are either very rude people or sick or the “bad guys” in the movie.

All this influence is what has caused it to be called Dorian Gray syndrome to all those men who are especially concerned about maintaining a harmonious, beautiful and young body and face. It is a body image disorder that causes people who suffer from it to be very aware of their physical appearance, spending large amounts of money and time on gyms, body shaping techniques, cosmetic products and even cosmetic surgeries.

The peculiar name of this syndrome was coined in 2000 by the psychiatrist Brosig B referring to the novel by Oscar Wilde “The Picture of Dorian Gray” where the protagonist feels the strong desire to achieve eternal youth and wants his portrait to be the one who ages instead of him.

What characterizes this syndrome?

1. According to what I have explained above, it can be deduced that it is a acquired disorder, that is, you are not born with it. It is developed through sociocultural patterns that cause great concern about physical appearance.
2. This disorder generally occurs with Dysmorphophobia (obsession with some part of the body that they consider disproportionate or unpleasant where there is generally a distortion, since the disproportion is not such).
3. Furthermore, people who suffer from this disorder are usually people with a low self-esteem people who learn to give themselves their own identity solely through physical appearance.
4. They tend to be people who reject any aspect that can be considered mature. Tend to have childhood behaviors or not very typical of their physical age and they flatly reject the physical aging of their own body, abusing Botox, cosmetic products, anabolics and aesthetic operations.
5. Furthermore, personality tends to be something narcissistic that is, appearing to be better than others, considering that one’s own opinion is better than others and being people with little empathy (they find it difficult to put themselves in other people’s shoes).

How do I know if I suffer from Dorian Gray syndrome?

Although the syndrome is not yet considered a psychological disorder per se, there are certain traits which are common:

1. Fear or terror of ugliness: The person constantly looks at himself and looks for his physical defects to remedy them. He checks his hair loss, observes his body carefully in search of imperfections, etc.
2. Distortion of body image: Even though others have a more positive image of their physique, the person feels ugly or considers that some parts of their body are defective. For example, thinking that your nose is huge when you have a completely normal nose.
3. Child behavior: The person behaves in an immature way for one’s physical age. There is a rejection of the responsibilities of life and of maturing emotionally.
4. Abuse of physical treatments: Creams, diets, physical exercise and cosmetic operations are used almost compulsively to improve physical appearance. A person can undergo surgery many times to perfect that aspect of their body that they just don’t like. For example, having surgery on your face several times until you reach the point where you lose your identifying features.
5. Drug abuse: These people take a large number of pills a day, whether to strengthen hair, revitalize skin, increase muscle mass, lose weight, erectile dysfunction, etc.
6. Self-destructive behaviors: The person exposes themselves to unhealthy habits to improve their physical appearance. Physical appearance takes precedence over health in the priority system.

If you think you suffer from this syndrome or know someone who suffers from it, the best solution is to go to a psychologist or psychotherapist that helps you accept the natural aging process It is very difficult to overcome this problem on your own, since it is generally associated with personality disorders and without the support of mental health professionals, it is very difficult to resolve them.

Encarni Muñoz Silva

Health psychologist, member number 16918