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« Is
Design Unhealthy?»
Can a career in design make you sick? Possibly,
according to researchers at London's Royal Free and University
Medical School, who found that artists, designers, and art-school
attendees are five times more likely to suffer from body dysmorphic
disorder (BDD) a mental illness characterized by a distorted
body image. People suffering from BDD, they noted, may have
a preoccupation with slight or imagined defects in physical
appearance, say what?
In their study, researchers compared 100 BDD patients with
100 patients with depression, 100 with obsessive-compulsive
disorder and 100 with post-traumatic stress disorder. Overall,
they found that 20% of the BDD patients had a job in art or
design or had been to art school compared with 4% of the depressed
patients, 3% of the obsessive-compulsive patients and none
of the post-traumatic stress disorder patients.
Although the finding are consistent with other research on
BDD, the researchers noted that additional study is necessary
to make a stronger correlation between BDD and design careers.
-- article from december issue of HOW magazine.--
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