“Mirror, mirror, who is the most beautiful in this kingdom?”, to which the mirror answers: “Your majesty is beautiful, but there is another being. It is a creature so beautiful and beautiful that it is the most beautiful of all.” the earth”. This fragment from the beginning of Snow White can help us illustrate, in a very graphic way, the mirror syndrome. What relationship do you have with your mirror? What does he answer when you ask him who is the most beautiful?
Depending on the day and how you feel, your response may vary. But what happens when the mirror’s responses are always negative and critical of your body and yourself? We could talk, then, about mirror syndrome, also known as Ballantyne Runge syndrome or triple edema. If you want to know more about him, keep reading! In this Psychology-Online article we explain what is mirror syndrome in psychologyits symptoms, causes and treatment.
What is mirror syndrome
Mirror syndrome or Ballantyne Runge syndrome is suffered by those people who observe their reflection for physical defects. It is related to the distortion of the corporeal reality of the person who is looking in the mirror, in a way that distorts or magnifies those defects that he believes he has. Therefore, it would be closely related to the .
Therefore, we could define it as concern about one or more perceived defects or imperfections in physical appearance that are not observable or seem unimportant to another person. So the looking in the mirror repeatedly It could be a sign of concern about physical appearance, causing clinically significant discomfort.
Symptoms of mirror syndrome
Some of the symptoms that people with mirror syndrome, also known as Ballantyne Runge syndrome or triple edema, may experience are:
- Delusional idea of reference and the belief that other people especially notice or make fun of them because of their appearance.
- High levels of anxietysocial anxiety and social avoidance.
- .
- Neuroticism and .
- Low extraversion and .
- Ashamed of his appearancegiving excessive importance to their physical appearance.
- Reluctant to reveal their concern to others.
- Aesthetic or cosmetic treatments can be performed to improve your appearance.
- Tendency to interpret negative and threatening facial expressions and ambiguous situations.
- Suicidal ideation.
- Alteration in psychosocial functioning: stopping leaving the house, not going out with friends or family, not going to work or school, etc.).
- Stop looking in the mirror.
- .
- Alteration in eating behavior.
Causes of mirror syndrome
Understanding mirror syndrome or triple edema within body dysmorphic disorder, one of the causes of this perceptual alteration is believed to be executive and visual processing dysfunctionwhich creates a bias in the analysis and encoding of details rather than comprehensive or holistic aspects of visual stimuli.
Some of the associated risk factors to Ballantyne Runge syndrome are:
- High rates of neglect and abuse during childhood.
- Have first-degree relatives with (OCD).
- .
- Perfectionism.
- Anxious temperament.
- Adverse situations in childhood.
- Bad parental relationship.
- Social isolation.
- Presence of dermatological or physical stigmata.
How to treat mirror syndrome
The treatment that has shown the greatest effectiveness for mirror syndrome or body dysmorphic disorder is cognitive behavioral therapy with the aim of reducing disruptive thoughts and avoidance behaviors, as well as increasing self-esteem.
In the field of research for the treatment of mirror syndrome, a study in adolescents proposes carrying out 14 sessions where the first 3 are intended to explore the reason for consultation and specific problems, as well as the return of the information collected in is to the patient.
The last two are intended for coping with risk situations and post-treatment evaluation in order to assess the improvements achieved. The other remaining sessions are divided into 3 large blocks:
- Cognitive restructuring: The content of present thoughts and concerns about body image will be worked through records, working from these distorted thoughts in order to readjust them to ones that are closer to reality and that do not generate discomfort in the subject.
- Training in techniques for anxiety management and relaxation: both in Jacobson’s progressive relaxation and in regulating physiological activation in situations in front of the mirror.
- Exposure with response prevention: also remembering in these subsequent sessions the previously acquired relaxation and anxiety management techniques.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- American psychiatric association, (2014). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM – 5. Madrid, Spain. Pan-American medical publishing house.
- Behar, R., Arancibia, M., Heitzer, C., and Meza, N. (2016). Body dysmorphic disorder: clinical aspects, nosological dimensions and controversies with anorexia nervosa. Medical Journal of Chile, 144(5), 626-633.
- Ezpeleta, L., & Toro, J. (2014). Developmental psychopathology. Madrid: Pyramid