关键词: 肌肉上瘾综合征, 男性成年人, 力量训练人群, 体象障碍, 进食障碍

Abstract: Muscle dysmorphia (MD) is a preoccupation with the idea that one’s body is insufficiently lean and muscular, which has newly become a prominent issue in the psychological and psychiatric literatures. MD is a collection of the extreme attitude and behavior for getting more muscular and has newly been categorized as a form of body dysmorphic disorder occurring almost in males, who usually participate in weightlifting and bodybuilding. The purpose of the present study is to introduce and discuss the existing studies on the MD, so as to highlight the essence and the importance of exploring MD in Asian environment, especially in China. Symptoms of individuals with MD were found by earlier researches, in terms of the aspects of cognition, behavior and social activities. Although MD is now introduced as a subcategory of body dismorphic disorder, due to the relationship and co-morbidity with eating disorder and other disorders, there are still disputes in the category of MD. Some researchers suggest that MD might be a new form of psychological disorder. According to the criteria suggested by Blashfield, Sprock and Fuller (1990), in the present state, MD only meet two criteria of five and could not been listed as a new disorder yet. Therefore, it is an essence for further studies conducted to examine the unique characteristics of MD. Moreover, these years, various questionnaires assessing symptoms of MD have been developed by researchers in several western countries, and cultural diversity of MD is still on study. Nowadays, researchers have outlined two main theoretical models in the previous studies, i.e. six-factor psychobehavioral model and conceptual model (Grieve, 2007; Lantz, Rhea, & Cornelius, 2002). However, there is a lack of empirical research related to these theories, and the predictive validity of these models has not been verified yet. And some studies have argued that other cognitive factors excluding in these two models, such as attention bias, cognitive mode etc., may also contribute to the pathogenesis of MD. The mechanism of MD is not well understood and it is necessary for further studies. With the development of globalization, the pursuit for the “big” appearance prominent in western cultures has appeared to grow among men in Asia. A recent study also revealed that insufficient muscle was the third most frequently mentioned concern among Chinese male students (Liao et al., 2010). Coincidentally, the population of weightlifters and bodybuilders has been increasing rapidly in China. The increasing popularity of weightlifting in Chinese men suggests the presence of MD. It is therefore important to investigate this new syndrome in China. Nevertheless, MD is still lack of enough attention in China, even in Asia. As a relatively new syndrome presently, many aspects, for example, the relationship between MD and other disorders, specific clinical diagnosis, the mechanisms, and cultural difference of MD are disputed. So, we suggest that, in the future researches, researchers could further explore the MD in the following ways: (a) further examine the guidelines of categorizing a new disorder; (b) make clear the relationship of MD and body dismorphic disorder, eating disorder or other co-morbidity; (c) explore the mechanisms of MD, especially the roles of cognitive factors; (d) pay attention to the characteristics of cultural differences; and (e) focus more on the high risk population (such as bodybuilders and weightlifters) and develop some effective intervention studies.

Key words: Muscle dysmorphia, adult male, weightlifting, body dimorphic disorder, eating disorder