The author proposes to subsume under the nosologic designation 'dysmorphophobia' all those psychoneurotic symptoms which are based on the notion that one's own body is ugly or deficient. Using cases from the literature and two detailed histories from his own practice, the author demonstrates the phenomenology, pathogenesis and course of the illness. No true organ inferiority is involved, only the phantasy of one. The chief symptom is the morbid shame of these patients. Incestuous wishes and corresponding castration anxieties are unconscious motives; anal-urethral character traits as well as voyeurism and exhibitionism can generally be ascertained. The ego is fixated on the level of the omnipotence of one's own body.