Most of us dislike one area of our body, yet we accept these imperfections and think little of them as we go about our day to day life. But for some it can almost become an obsession, becoming an all consuming part of their life.
Research has found that one to two percent of people can be affected by a psychiatric condition know as BDD – Body Dysmorphic Disorder - while some research studies have indicated an even higher proportion. BDD can affect both men and women. It can occur in any age group, often developing during the early teenage years, and can affect people’s life to varying degrees.
People with BDD can dislike any body area. Many dislike a number of features on their body; others focus their attention on just one. The most common areas include the skin (73 percent), hair (56 percent), nose (37 percent), weight (22 percent), stomach (22 percent) and breasts (21 percent). BDD suffers often obsess over preconceived flaws, often for up to three to eight hours a day and find these obsessions hard to resist and control. Some people with BDD realize that these perceived flaws really don’t look that bad, but most don’t realize this. For many they see themselves as abnormal or ugly in some way. Extreme sufferers who are absolutely convinced that their appearance beliefs are accurate are sometimes said to have delusional BDD.
Common BDD behaviours include camouflaging the area with makeup, obsessively comparing body parts with others and scrutinizing their appearance, excessive grooming, skin picking and touching the disliked body area often.
For many BDD sufferers, their appearance concerns cause significant emotional distress, such as anxiety or depression, often resulting in poor social functioning. Many, for example, find it hard to concentrate on their job or school work. Relationship problems are common and BDD sufferers often have a poor quality of life. They have few friends, avoid dating, miss school or work and feel self conscious in social situations. Often those suffering from BDD think other people are making fun of them because of how they look, with some even turning to alcohol or drugs in an attempt to diminish the distress. Some even feel their life isn’t worth living and commit suicide.
Like all psychiatric illnesses the severity of BDD varies, ranging from relatively mild to life-threatening. Research indicates that some 80 percent of BDD sufferers have, at some point, had suicidal thoughts with some 24 to 28 percent having attempted suicide.
While BDD appears to be a relatively common illness it often goes unrecognized and undiagnosed for a variety of reasons. BDD sufferers often don’t reveal their symptoms to people because they are too embarrassed and don’t want to be considered vain, or because they don’t want to draw more attention to their preconceived flaws. Many health care professionals aren’t aware that BDD is a known mental illness that often responds well to the right psychiatric treatment and misdiagnosis occurs frequently, often being treated for illness such as OCD – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Furthermore, many BDD suffers pursue cosmetic treatments, seeing dermatologists, plastic surgeons and other physicians, rather than mental health professionals.
For many BDD is a debilitating illness, which causes untold stress and misery, yet with the right treatment and care, BDD sufferers can enjoy a good quality of life.
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