what is body dismorphic disorder?

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I'm just wondering what is it? why do people with autism have it a lot? what does it do? whats it like to have it?

Body Dysmorhpic Disorder is when theres a part of your body that you become obsessed with, which you perceive as very ugly, you feel so ugly that you find you either can't look away from the mirror, or you avoid mirrors completely

People with BDD are totally obsessed with this usually minor or non existent fault, it's considered a relation of OCD, and many with BDD have OCD, BDD is sort of an OCD where the obsession is your body.

My BDD affects my hair and teeth, I wear a balaclava to hide my face and look at mirrors and reflections a lot of the time, constantly obsessing over how people look at me.

It's caused me a lot more pain over the past few months then autism has.

I read an article saying in affects people with autism spectrum conditions more because they see things in parts rather than the whole and are unable to get the body part of their concern out of their mind due to perseveration/obsessiveness, so a minor flaw or a few minor flaws or even perceived flaws become the whole world for them basically and of great importance (by them I mean these people with BDD, of which I am one).

Phonic - I know that this will not cure you of the disorder cause I know how persistent the disorder is and also these are just the opinions of little me but hair and teeth are two things that I don't think can possibly be bad-looking in a human being. Someone could have so-called "very bad teeth" and I only think it increases their uniqueness and adorableness. Someone could be bald (well many people are) and it really doesn't affect their appeal in my opinion.

Moral of the story: beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess, at least to this extent!

ok that explains it pretty well thanks

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/body-d ... er/DS00559

I believe I may have suffered from this as a young man. It took the form of painfully obsessive comparison of myself with others, so painful that I avoided seeing others: staying home, not looking out the window, not watching TV. I avoided mirrors and being photographed. Nights were filled with terrible nightmares and I seldom got more than four or five hours sleep. During the day there were anxiety attacks. I felt I was alone and going under and no one would give me the help I needed.

After 10 lost years the symptoms began to abate. My appearance improved as I got older and I also got some plastic surgery that helped. More importantly, my obsession with a particular set of body parts morphed into concern with general appearance, which I could do something about. This gave me hope.

Today I seldom think about this time, or feel much concern for my appearance, but I know this is a very real and debilitating problem for some people. It should not be left to just work itself out, as it was in my case, because the there's a very real possibility that it will not work itself out.

What Phonic said.

I'd add that it's not always about a specific part of your body, and your obsessions over certain body parts can change over time.
It warps your view of yourself - best example of BDD is a person with an eating disorder like anorexia (many people with BDD develop eating disorders), they will convince themselves they're fat so become obsessive about eating, exercising, and things relating to their appearance, and no matter how thin they become when they look in the mirror they can still see themselves as is fat or otherwise flawed.

I was diagnosed with BDD a few years ago, for me it's about my face. I have no idea what-so-ever what I actually look like, I can look attractive one day but some days looking in the mirror is very upsetting, my face is lopsided and warped and flawed in many different ways - I've kept a mirror with me since I was seven and regularly check my appearance and I obsessively groom. I'm not really all that bad, but it is very annoying.

Moog has shown some interest in this in the past, and I made a post about it here - http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt149673.html

It's suspected it was the rezone the late Michael Jackson kept getting cosmetic surgery on his face

I think I may have had it before because I used to obsess about my body and I thought it was OCD. I even hated getting my pictures taken for a while but that was due to low self esteem about my body. I just looked fat in them and I hated my boobs. I even posted certain photos of myself online if I looked thin in them.

But I wouldn't claim to have it. I seem to get over things because my anxiety got better, AS, I overcame OCD and depression, my sensory issues got better and so did my balance and motor skills. I seem to get over stuff. Now to try and get rid of my learning issues.