Commentary on muscle dysmorphia as an addiction: A response to Grant (2015) and Nieuwoudt (2015)

Background: Following the publication of our paper ‘Muscle Dysmorphia: Could it be classified as an addiction to body image?’ in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, two commentaries by Jon Grant and Johanna Nieuwoudt were published in response to our paper. Method: Using the ‘addiction components model’, our main contention is that muscle dysmorphia (MD) actually comprises a number of different actions and behaviors and that the actual addictive activity is the maintaining of body image via a number of different activities such as bodybuilding, exercise, eating certain foods, taking specific drugs (e.g., anabolic steroids), shopping for certain foods, food supplements, and purchase or use of physical exercise accessories. This paper briefly responds to these two commentaries. Results: While our hypothesized specifics relating to each addiction component sometimes lack empirical support (as noted explicitly by both Nieuwoudt and Grant), we still believe that our main thesis (that almost all the thoughts and behaviors of those with MD revolve around the maintenance of body image) is something that could be empirically tested in future research by those who already work in the area. Conclusions: We hope that the ‘Addiction to Body Image’ model we proposed provides a new framework for carrying out work in both empirical and clinical settings. The idea that MD could potentially be classed as an addiction cannot be negated on theoretical grounds as many people in the addiction field are turning their attention to research in new areas of behavioral addiction

A longitudinal study of the relationship between lifestyle and mental health among midlife and older women in Australia: Findings from the healthy aging of women study

We investigated the temporal relationship between lifestyle and mental health among 564 midlife women. The mental health measured included anxiety, depression, and mental well-being; the lifestyle measures included body mass index (BMI), exercise, smoking, alcohol use, and caffeine consumption. We found that BMI was positively related with mental well-being (r = .316, p = .009); smokers had lower mental well-being than nonsmokers (β = 6.725, p = .006), and noncaffeine drinkers had higher mental well-being (β = 5, p = .023). Past alcohol-drinkers had less anxiety than nondrinkers (β = 1.135, p = .04). Therefore, lifestyle is predictive of mental health among midlife and older women

Ten-year time trends in mental and physical health correlates of weight/shape overvaluation

Objective: To investigate the relationships between weight/shape overvaluation, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and functional role impairment (days out of role [DOR]) in the general population over 11 years. Method: Five cross-sectional surveys of men and women representative of the South Australian population were conducted in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2015, and 2016 (ntotal = 15,140). Data were collected on demographics, overvaluation, HRQoL, DOR, and eating disorder behaviours. Results: Between 2005 and 2016, the prevalence of moderate overvaluation increased from 18.1% to 40.0%, marked overvaluation from 7.5% to 23.7%, and extreme overvaluation from 3.1% to 9.2% (all p < 0.001). Overvaluation at any level was associated with more DOR in 2005 but not in 2016, and the association between HRQoL impairment and overvaluation weakened over time. Conclusion: Although the population prevalence of overvaluation has increased significantly in the past decade, the impairment associated with it appears to have reduced