Dorian Gray syndrome

The Dorian Gray Syndrome refers to a phenomenon of the times, the aging of the mental incapacity and mature, by rejection of one's own shape ( body dysmorphic disorder ) and by excessive use of so-called lifestyle offerings of medicine is characterized.

Term origin

The term was coined in 2000 in the context of a conference on lifestyle medicine of Giessen psychologists Burkhard Brosig. The term is based on The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde from 1890 to the novel and its key figure and takes a motif of the work to age the disability and therefore emotionally mature, in terms of a clinical description and syndromatic classification on.

Cause

Psychodynamic is an interaction between narcissistic tendencies (keyword: Ageless Beauty), problems of psychosexual progression (keyword: Prevention of development and maturity ), and finally, in terms of defense, the use of lifestyle offerings in medicine. This serves as a means, without internal mental processing to achieve outer perfection and retain eternal youth. The clinical picture as described here has beyond the differential diagnosis of the main diseases of body dysmorphic disorder, narcissistic personality disorder and the paraphilias, because the intertwining of these different dynamics is precisely the crux of Dorian Gray syndrome and thus represents a separate clinical entity. According to conservative estimates are likely 2 to 3 % of the population of the described syndrome suffering (cf. Brosig et al 2005).

For diagnosis, the following criteria must be met

• Signs of body dysmorphic disorder
• Inability to mental maturity and psychological development steps
• Use of at least two of the following lifestyle offerings of medicine: Hair growth products / hair operations
• Antiobesity
• Potency
• Antidepressants for mood manipulation
• Use of the offers of cosmetic dermatology
• Use of the offers of cosmetic surgery

Should be emphasized in this context, the extensive use of the above points, where two or more areas need to be concerned.

Follow

Clinically, there is a latent depression with the risk of suicidal crises, wherein the above -mentioned measures of lifestyle medicine are to be understood as a psychological defense against the breaching of depressive states. In case of insufficient consideration of the psychological dynamics leads to a pathologically narcissistic attitude and sometimes self-destructive actions.