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Gender Dysphoria vs. Muscle Dysmorphia: Why the Difference?

All of the reports correctly treat muscle dysmorphia as a disorder that required helping these men see the goodness of their bodies as they are. Yet these same news outlets treat gender dysphoria as a problem of the body, with treatment that involves body modification, such as hormones and surgery. 

09/27/22

John Stonestreet

Shane Morris

The Radio Health Journal podcast recently reported on “muscle dysmorphia,” a psychological condition of mainly bodybuilders, who believe they’re less muscular than they actually are. In it, Harvard Medical School psychologist Roberto Olivardia described patients who miss work to obsessively work out, and others who wear baggy clothes to hide what they think are puny figures.  

It’s not just bodybuilders. The New York Times reported earlier this year that what it called “bigorexia” affects a growing number of teenage boys. 

All of the reports correctly treat muscle dysmorphia as a disorder that required helping these men see the goodness of their bodies as they are. Yet these same news outlets treat gender dysphoria as a problem of the body, with treatment that involves body modification, such as hormones and surgery. 

In fact, gender dysphoria is the only one in which people are told to align their body with the mind, instead of helping their mind accept their body. 

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