The Correlations between Hirsutism Disease and Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Psychological Distress, and Defense Mechanisms

Abstract

Background: Hirsutism in many cases is a beauty problem in women, which is due to hormonal disorders such as malfunctioning of the ovaries, adrenal glands, pituitary gland, and non-endocrine hereditary characteristics or drug use. Methods: This cross-sectional correlation study was done on 76 women aged 18 to 40 suffering from hirsutism who referred to laser therapy. The instrument prepared for the evaluation in this research was Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD-YBOCS). Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) and defense mechanisms were studied through the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ). In the descriptive statistics section, mean, frequency, and standard deviation (SD) indices were used, and multiple regression tests were used in the inferential statistical section. For statistical analysis, data were analyzed using SPSS statistical analysis software. Results: The results of the multiple regression showed that there was a positive and significant relationship (P < 0.05) between the investigated characteristics of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) (r = 0.46), psychological distresses (r = 0.33), and defense mechanisms (r = 0.46), with hirsutism and based on the results of the studied components, stress with 11, BDD with 21, and developed defense mechanisms with 17 were able to explain the changes related to hirsutism disease in this research samples. Conclusion: The present study showed that there was a significant relationship between hirsutism and BDD, stress, and mature defense mechanisms, which directly and indirectly indicates the importance of two-way communication between specialists in other fields and mental health specialists to improve the quality of life (QOL) as much as possible, and also to diagnose and treat the disorders associated with hirsutism. © 2024 International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture.