JAN SM 2025_Tom Wooldridge "Boys and Their Muscles: The Paternal Object in Muscle Dysmorphia"

January 2025: “Boys and their Muscles: The Paternal Object in Muscle Dysmorphia” Presented by: Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, FIPA, CEDS-S In this presentation, Wooldridge discusses the psychodynamics of the paternal object for a subset of patients with muscle dysmorphia. In the formulation that he presents, which applies to many patients who struggle with appearance-related concerns that focus on developing a more muscular physique, there is father-child object relation in which the father maintains his own narcissistic equilibrium by keeping his son small, vulnerable, and weak. Whereas in optimal development the paternal function facilitates the young boy’s separation and individuation, it instead threatens the child with the possibility of remaining forever lost in the archaic mother-child matrix of helplessness and dependency. Faced with this dilemma, the child may idealize a form of masculinity characterized by “bigness” and impermeability that the paternal function comes to represent. The developing boy, his mind’s ability to represent and symbolize the affects evoked by this traumatic theme compromised, takes muscularity as a symbolic equation for masculinity and engages in a frantic drive for muscularity to keep experiences of weakness, vulnerability, and shame, associated with femininity, at bay. These dynamics are illustrated with a clinical case. Learning Objectives: After attending, participants will be able to: 1. Discuss the role of the father-child relationship in the development of muscle dysmorphia. 2. Describe how disrupted paternal function can lead to the equation of muscularity with masculinity. 3. Identify the psychological motivations behind the intense pursuit of muscularity in individuals with muscle dysmorphia.