Anyone with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)?

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I'm popping this in Women's Discussions as women tend to be most commonly effected.

By BDD I mean BDD not just general dislike of ones body - I've had friends comment along the lines of "Every woman has BDD" - no, there's a bit of a difference between looking in a mirror and thinking your bum looks big and having BDD.

I'm very lucky in that I'm one of few people with BDD who hasn't developed ED or becomes suicidal. Sometimes the person I see in the mirror isn't me, sometimes I'm attractive and sometimes I'm not. I don't recognise myself in photo's and I avoid the camera - the photo in my avatar is the best in about ten years, but don't think it looks like me. I've carried at least a mirror since the age of seven, have to check every reflective surface, re-do hair or make-up and on very bad days I have excessive/destructive grooming. Some people say I'm attractive, some people verbally abuse me for how I look, making it tough to know what to believe. Honestly, despite all this I'm very well adjusted

There is a point to this post...
(sorry, I babble a lot)

To me this is was a chicken and egg situation - did the BDD cause social phobia, or did the social phobia cause the BDD, or to look at another cause was the bullying due to how I looked, or was the BDD a result of bullying. Now we have Asperger's thrown into the mix - I also add here things such as not recognising the face in the mirror (related to face blindness) and not being able to make eye contact with your reflection (BDD, ASD or a bit of both) Could the asperger's have lead to the social anxiety issues that have lead to BDD and the obsessive behaviour associated with it?

Actually this is sounding maybe less 'chicken and egg' and more like 'the house that Jack built'.

I'm wondering if BDD is common amongst aspie or autistic women, and is BDD an issue that should be addressed separately from ASD if looking at psychiatric care or therapy for behavoral issues/OCD/social anxiety.

Characteristics of BDD (see where they may overlap with some aspie/autistic characteristics?);

- Obsessive thoughts about (a) perceived appearance defect(s).
- Obsessive and compulsive behaviors related to (a) perceived appearance defect(s) (see section below).
- Major depressive disorder symptoms.
- Delusional thoughts and beliefs related to (a) perceived appearance defect(s).
- Social and family withdrawal, social phobia, loneliness and self-imposed social isolation.
- Anxiety; possible panic attacks.
- Chronic low self-esteem.
- Feeling self-conscious in social environments; thinking that others notice and mock their perceived defect(s).
- Strong feelings of shame.
- Avoidant personality: avoiding leaving the home, or only leaving the home at certain times, for example, at night.
- Dependent personality: dependence on others, such as a partner, friend or family.
- Inability to work or an inability to focus at work due to preoccupation with appearance.
- Decreased academic performance (problems maintaining grades, problems with school/college attendance).
- Problems initiating and maintaining relationships (both intimate relationships and friendships).
- Alcohol and/or drug abuse (often an attempt to self-medicate).
- Repetitive behavior (such as constantly (and heavily) applying make-up; regularly checking appearance in mirrors)
- Seeing slightly varying image of self upon each instance of observing a mirror or reflective surface.
- Perfectionism (undergoing cosmetic surgery and behaviours such as excessive moisturising and exercising with an aim to create an unattainable but ideal body and reduce anxiety).

That's really interesting. I definitely don't have BDD, but I frequently look in the mirror and don't recognize myself. This tends to happen most when I think I look pretty, so might be related to the androgenity many women with aspergers get. It doesn't come with any depression or other symptoms - it's more a "weird, I didn't know I looked like that." I do have destructive daily grooming behaviors though, so I'm interested in other people's thoughts.

Very short thread I made on the subject. Do check the link to that article.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt148150.html

I'm interested in possible links between BDD and alexithymia/poor interoception.

If you have BDD can I can ask if you also have problems with the following; poor spacial awareness, clumsy movements, being accident prone, feeling disconnected from the body, confusing physical and emotional feelings, having difficulty identifying and labelling emotions, not knowing when one is upset, etc

I'm also interested in this, except I'd omit the word woman, since I'm not one

My feeling about treatments are that holistic solutions are usually best, but the established medical systems don't tend to do things like that. I think it's useful to know which is which, and how one may influence the other.

Moog, I think I'm an unusual BDD case on many levels so doubt I can give that much insight into the typical BDD sufferer.

I can tell you I have confusing emotional feelings/difficulty identifying emotions, but otherwise I'm very much in touch with my body, spacial awareness, etc. - although in relation to the article I'd be a sucker for rubber hand illusion, heh. I am thus exception to the rule.

Interesting article though, the quote "What we see in the mirror and what we feel against our skin melds with our own internal awareness of our bodies to create an overarching body image" reminds me of No Truce with the Furies R S Thomas

I occasionally have serious difficulties recognizing my face in the mirror and in pictures. I don't seem to have similar issues with other people.

I don't think I have BDD, though. Like, my preoccupation with what my face looks like isn't typically impairing, just confusing.

Yes, this is me exactly.

I do sometimes seem to think that I'm fat but all my friends tell me that I'm really skinny but I can't seem to actually see that in myself but I suppose most girls tend to fall for the image side unfortunately but that's about it.

I have good self-esteem and I don't seem delusional either.

But I do remember feeling a whole lot worse back then before I started going church and apparently it seems to cure alot of anxiety problems and makes you a whole stronger person (pretty strange coming from me) but it's true.

I've always hated the way I look. I don't think I suffer from body dysmorphia so much as being born unlucky. Sometimes I wonder though if there is an upside to it. By the time I grow old I won't worry about the "less" attention I get. I hear a lot of women say this as they get older.

I don't have BDD but i know the feeling of not recognizing myself in the mirror. Also i've always had this feeling that my body isn't mine, that i exist in this body but that it isn't mine. Weird...

OMG. I have that feeling too. When I look in the mirror I feel like there's a stranger staring me in the face and she's not who I would identify as myself. I just assume it's because I don't like the way I look but it's a little more intense than that.

I've always had alexithymia and poor interoception, but not BDD. BDD requires a sense of connection to one's body which I have simply never had. I can (mostly) control it, but in the end, it's just a vessel. I look in the mirror--sometimes I like what I see, sometimes I'm neutral, and sometimes I don't like what I see. But regardless of how much I like or dislike it, it can't trouble me, because deep down, I can't identify it as myself.


Likewise. I try to imagine my face in my mind, and it is very vague; the best I can do is to recall pictures of myself. This is generally true for me of all people, but more so for myself than for others (though I suppose this makes sense, since I don't look at myself very much).


Likewise again. I don't care for looking in mirrors. I don't relate to the person who looks back at me. At best, it feels odd to try to remember that the woman I see there is the same one people see when they look at me. At worst, it feels like she is like an impostor, convincing the world that she is me.

I'm reviving this thread, I hope nobody minds.

I have a severe case of this. I've been suicidal-minded about it many times. I am unable to take the slightest irreversible change in my appearance (any signs of being any older than 18 ) and I've never liked other aspects of my appearance.

I am just looking for a way out of this hell. It is complete hell. This sentiment probably makes my post Haven-worthy but this is part of a thread that's already in the Women's Discussion, so... I just wanted to know how other people deal with flaws they perceive in their appearance and with growing older. I don't understand how I'm going to make it to the age of 30, let alone 35 or 40, because I cannot take growing physically older. I don't see the upside to it.

I definitely don't have BDD, but I'm about 99% sure that my younger brother does. Even though he's quite handsome, he thinks he is one of the ugliest people in the world and he is miserable. He complains about having "flaws" in his appearance that are either not noticeable unless you get right in his face or aren't there at all. He's so meticulous about his grooming habits, especially his hair, that other teenagers have called him "gay" for it. His insecurity about his appearance has caused him to withdraw from others socially, and he will never approach girls he finds attractive because he (wrongly) assumes that they will always negatively judge him based on appearance.

I feel bad for my brother, but he will not open up to therapists and he will not take medication.

Wow IdahoRose, your brother sounds a lot like me. It's kind of reassuring to know that you don't see the flaws he sees. I mean it is reassuring, to know it's really a disorder and not just "me noticing obvious flaws."

I feel bad for your brother or anybody else who has to suffer through this. (Well I feel bad for anybody who has to suffer in any way, period, but this way is particularly awful.)

Is there any way you can impress upon him that this is a thought disorder and he doesn't see himself accurately? I would want someone to do this for me if they could.

I don't have it. I have thought I was ugly in the past, fat, I hated my ears, my teeth. I thought that because of other kids. I have been called ugly and I have been called fat when I was skinny. Kids had made comments about my teeth or my smiles and made fun of my ears.

Some people even think eating disorders is a form of body dysmorphia because they think they are fat when they are not or they want a certain body so they try and starve themselves for it or do excessive workouts and dieting to lose the weight. But that's not always why people have an eating disorder, it isn't always about body image or wanting a certain body. Sometimes they just happen for other reasons. But it's always about control when it happens.

I have hated my body and how I looked in photos and never really wanted my pictures taken nor would post any online if I looked fat in them.

But I don't have BDD. I think it's more extreme and it has to impair you to have it. And I did used to look at myself in the mirror a lot but not anymore. I also don't mind my teeth anymore and ears and my breasts. I also don't think I'm ugly either nor fat.

But one thing that depresses me is the fact I am getting older so that means getting less pretty.