Prevalence of Alcohol Use and Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Can Alcohol Use Cause Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

Most likely, alcohol is not the sole factor that causes BDD. However, it may make coping and symptoms worse. According to research, the most common reason a person may use alcohol is to cope with the distress a person experiences about their appearance with body dysmorphic disorder.

Lifetime prevalence rates of alcohol use disorder in BDD are high. Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder are most likely to use alcohol to cope with distress due to body image concerns. People with BDD reported reasoning for alcohol included reducing the pain of body image concerns, forgetting about body image concerns, and feeling more comfortable about their appearance around other people. The article also found that people who used alcohol to cope with BDD were associated with a lifetime of BDD risk and attempted suicide.

Does Alcohol Affect Body Dysmorphic Disorder Symptoms?

Alcohol affects body dysmorphia by increasing physical symptoms triggering the distress one may experience about personal appearance and growing anxiety and depression due to the chemical imbalances we experience with alcohol. The dangerous combination of mental health and impulsivity can increase problematic behaviors.

One way that alcohol may increase the severity of BDD is that alcohol does impact a person’s physical appearance, specifically one’s skin. One of the most noticeable signs of aging is seeing a person’s face and how their skin looks. Unfortunately, alcohol affects a person’s appearance through inflammation, blotchy skin, increased redness, and age spots.

These changes that can impact a person’s health and appearance may trigger more distress with a person’s increased physical flaws.

Secondly, alcohol may increase feelings of depression and anxiety due to chemical imbalances in the brain and intensifying symptoms of BDD. Alcohol interferes with serotonin levels. When a person has normal levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, people feel emotionally balanced and stable. However, when a person receives too much serotonin, psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression can occur.

Finally, alcohol can increase impulsive and destructive behaviors when mental health issues and alcohol are combined. Because symptoms of depression worsen with the use of alcohol disorder, there can be adverse effects of alcohol use. People may need to be hospitalized more often due to violence, suicidal tendencies, or self-harm. Additionally, the use of alcohol can create mental health episodes to emerge earlier in life than for people who do not chronically use alcohol. This may make treatment more challenging and risk intense mood or behavioral shifts.

Can Body Dysmorphic Disorder Lead to an Unhealthy Relationship with Alcohol?

Unfortunately, combining body dysmorphia and alcohol use can create a behavioral cycle. A person can easily be triggered by BDD and struggle with symptoms of anxiety, depression, social isolation, and even develop OCD behaviors.

Suppose a person does not seek treatment for BDD. In that case, they may turn to alcohol and other substances to numb and cope with the extreme distress from their mental health because alcohol exacerbates these mental health challenges and worsens a person’s physical appearance, behavior management, and despair. Because a person feels like things are deteriorating, they may not know what to do but continue to engage in alcohol or other substances to distract from the pain. This cycle of extreme distress and behavior keeps people with BDD trapped in a cycle of using alcohol and struggling with mental health disorders.

Research indicates that people with BDD are highly likely to have drug and alcohol disorders. In fact, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, nearly half of all people with BDD had some type of drug use disorder at some point in their lives.