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Alongside packed bookshelves and the usual office furniture, two walls of Dr. Eda Gorbis’ Westwood office are a fun house.

One mirror arches off the wall – the curved glass reflects the unfortunate gazer with a grotesquely elongated torso, enlarged head and stubby legs. Another mirror stretches the reflected face horizontally like silly putty.

As a clinical psychologist at the Westwood Institute for Anxiety Disorders, Gorbis treats patients with body dysmorphic disorder who see a similarly distorted image every time they look into their bathroom mirror.

“They believe that they are really ugly, and there is no way to fix the problem,” said Gorbis, who is also an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. “They look into the mirror and they don’t see what we see.”

These BDD patients will seek unnecessary cosmetic surgery procedures or even attempt to cut their own faces in the pursuit of unattainable physical perfection.

The condition is a more serious, but less recognized, subset of obsessive compulsive disorder and afflicts 6 million Americans. The disorder often results in clinical depression, social withdrawal and sometimes suicide.

“There were times that I had to take out the trash or go to the grocery store to get water, and I wouldn’t go because I was horrified for anybody to see me,” said one of Gorbis’ BDD patients who preferred to remain anonymous. “I would rather not drink water and just be thirsty than go outside.”

Gorbis uses the fun-house mirrors and other methods to externalize her patients’ inner distortions and allow them to see how ridiculous their own perceptions are.

“I used to not be able to leave the house without makeup at all, and I’ve been two-and-a-half weeks with no makeup,” the patient said. “The amount of hours I have back in my life to do other things is amazing.”

A serious neurological disease, BDD is based upon the issues of body image that affect everyone – especially residents of Southern California.

“Here (in Los Angeles), people are obsessed with body image more than anywhere else, but that is not an illness,” Gorbis said. “Looking into the mirror more than an hour a day and doing unnecessary procedures, that’s when it becomes a problem.”

But many of these self-image issues are often induced by leaving home and the pressures of belonging in a college community.

For UCLA students, that community – draped by red carpets and celebrity mug shots – lies in the shadows of Hollywood hills.

“Students are away from home for the first time, living in the residence halls with a smorgasbord style of food available to them,” said Tina Oakland, director of the Center for Women and Men at UCLA.

“They are facing the pressure to fit in, and one of the many ways that manifests is the pressure to have the ideal body.”

Societal guidelines of beauty exude from fashion magazines, movies and the recent deluge of television shows such as “Extreme Makeover” and “America’s Next Top Model.”

Even the warm temperatures Southern Californians love to brag about are a factor – warmer climates have been associated with ample opportunities to bring out halter tops and shorts and, therefore, issues of body image, Oakland said.

These pressures can ultimately push someone under the knife.

“Plastic surgery can be life-changing for people and medically necessary in some cases,” said Dr. George Rudkin, assistant professor in the UCLA Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. “But there are people that come in with unrealistic expectations because of the media influence.”

Shows like “Extreme Makeover,” in which a participant undergoes several procedures from breast implants to LASIK eye surgery to dramatically alter their appearance, have increased the awareness of what plastic surgery can do.

Rudkin has seen a steady increase in the patients seeking cosmetic surgery, as the various procedures are becoming more socially accepted.

“There’s less of a stigma now and some patients are really quite proud to announce that they have had plastic surgery,” he said.

Rudkin has observed another trend in a growing number of male patients. Men are increasingly facing many of the same media pressures that women have faced for decades when it comes to appearance.

Although much of the pressure is directed at young people in their 20s, most cosmetic surgery patients continue to be those in the pursuit of an elusive fountain of youth.

“People are living a lot longer today and people are much healthier at an older age,” Rudkin said. “The majority of people who are coming in are older people. They want to look younger.”

While most UCLA students might not yet have to worry about wrinkles, those feeling other types of pressure can find resources for body image issues from Student Psychological Services or the Center for Women and Men.

Oakland stresses the importance of fitness and a well-balanced diet, both of which can improve one’s self-image without unhealthy obsessions, surgical procedures or fun-house mirrors.