10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
Body dysmorphic disorder is a clinically significant and severe mental disorder involving delusions of appearance. Along with this come severe and significant symptoms that can tarnish the quality of life of the sufferer. There are certain things you can do to fix this disorder, but the symptoms are often life-long. The feelings will often wax and wane on and off for the rest of your life. If you want to overcome it, you have to be willing to power through it by having the guts. Everything you can do to fix it has a lot to do with doing the exact opposite of what the symptoms entail. In spite of this, these are the 10 worst symptoms of body dysmorphia. If there is anything I missed, it is only because there is too much to mention. Any anger from someone with BDD is related to judgment of themselves and pain.
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Symptoms of this disorder generally affect the facial region of a person. Since the face is often the centerpiece of someone, this is the area of their concern. Other body parts can be affected, but it is not the case as often. The intensity is often less severe, but it generally depends on the person. More than one body part can be affected all at once, but it waxes and wanes back and forth. Some people may only struggle with a few parts of their body, while other people struggle with them all. If the area affected is the entire body, concern may jump from one part to the next. The most common concerns are the nose, eyes, chin, hair, and genitals. An overall concern for weight and seeing oneself as fat are also very common. Insulting someone with this disorder is not advised, because it will be taken personally.
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The best things you can do to overcome BDD is through exposure therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been known to help BDD sufferers as well. The problem is that the person has to be willing to seek therapy and get better. Relying on the concern from others only leads down a rabbit hole of self-destruction and pain. If you feel ugly and worthless, it does not mean that you have this disorder. The thing that makes BDD so bad are the delusional perceptions and obsessive thinking. Some of the best ways to get over this disorder are by doing things that you would not otherwise do, i.e., pictures, standards, and self-affirmations. You need to stop looking back with shame. While the symptoms will never completely go away, you can lessen them greatly through exposure.
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I feel that calling it body dysmorphia is undermining the true damage of this disease. If someone calling it dysmorphia is even referring to the same thing, it is no way to understand the intensity of the disorder. The disorder is not simply a condition involving insecurity or addition to the mental illness like muscle dysphoria. The best way to understand it is by calling it what it is — a disorder. Body dysmorphic disorder is severe, but others may have body dysmorphia that is less severe. Conditions like muscle dysmorphia are severe too, but it is not a mental disorder. Muscle dysphoria is generally a male addition to the mental illness. It compounds other symptoms with a fear of being too small or frail. Having enough muscle mass is important, but it is also important to understand that it is never enough.
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The strange thing about body dysmorphic disorder is that it does not entail hallucinations. The unfortunate struggle is that there are distortions in perception that pick and choose what is seen. The reaction a person has is paramount in how the problem continues to persist. A person with this disorder is especially detail oriented when looking at themselves in the mirror. An obsession can occur where looking in the mirror or avoiding it outright can occur. The fear that is felt can end up causing more distortions through mental or physical damage. Someone dealing with this severe disorder can end up causing physical deformity through their negative reactions. This is the last thing that someone with this disorder should want — imaginary turned real.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
1. Delusional Appearance
When you are struggling with body dysmorphic disorder, you struggle mostly with your appearance. The way you see yourself is often distorted or entirely made up. You will feel like you look deformed and think that there is nothing you can do about it. The appearance of everyone else seems to be better than yours, and nothing can change it. Even if you are the most attractive person in the room, you will see yourself as a hideous creature. While self-affirmations, compliments, and good pictures of yourself help, it never lasts. This understanding of the disorder seems like it should help, but it often makes the roller coaster ride worse. The disorder greatly depends on how you see yourself and your standards for yourself. The disorder is distorting and causing this problem, as a sufferer was generally picked on or neglected during youth.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
2. Social Isolation
Having to deal and then overcome BDD involves phases of social isolation from peers and family. You may not even want to leave the house out of fear of ridicule, as you feel this ugliness can be felt for miles. This can lead to feelings of hopelessness and selfishness, thinking others are better off without you. Other feelings like thinking that no one cares and fear of overreaction can lead to further isolation. The problem is that you should be around others, but you cannot expect them to always understand. If your expectations are too high, you are likely to be disappointed. This is often a thought going through the head of sufferers, and it only makes it worse. While it is easier said than done, having other input from others can help. It is more than likely better than you think when dealing with BDD, even if flareups occur.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
3. Depression
The depression from BDD can be so bad that you will find even the most basic activities cumbersome. If there were an actual problem with your appearance to fix, it would be too much. Even if the problem is small and the fix is easy, you find it hard to keep any motivation. The negative affectivity of this disorder is so bad that it becomes entirely self-defeating and begins to feed itself. The more you feed the negative symptoms, the worse they can become. The feelings of depression from BDD are worse than that than depression without it. It is even said that BDD depression is more clinically significant than diabetes. The only way out of this is by not allowing the symptoms to engulf you entirely. If you are going around claiming that you have it to everyone, you probably do not have it.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
4. Social Anxiety
If you happen to progress and go out around other people, you may end up dealing with some social anxiety. While certain symptoms vary in degree among sufferers, there is no denying this symptom. If someone ends up pointing something out, the sufferer will always assume the worst. There is also a case where someone mentions a flaw that bothers the sufferer, but the sufferer has expected it to not be true. This can lead to great confusion as to how to go about understanding the entire situation. This does not mean that you do not have it, as a sufferer will begin to question it. Being wrapped up in insecurity and excessive thoughts by overthinking can lead to an inability to do anything right. Visible signs are vital to making a diagnosis, but most people who have it never go out to begin with.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
5. Hiding Appearance
Something quite sad about body dysmorphic disorder is the feeling that you need to hide your appearance. While this can be done by becoming socially isolated, it happens in public as well. If you do decide to go out and socialize, you may wear a mask or extra clothing elsewhere. The degree of BDD can become so bad that you can end up socially isolating yourself from loved ones. A fear of altercations causing physical damage is also present. There are some people who suffer that even hide their appearance when they are by themselves. The overwhelming desire to appear normal is so bad, that someone can feel exposed even when by themselves. Like OCD, the flaws will always find a way to seep into any good mood you have. The hiding can last for months or years and lead to an inability to work or enjoy life.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
6. Obsessions and Compulsions
Suffering from BDD comes with a tendency to obsess over things that have happened to you. If you think that a past injury affects you, you will begin to obsess about it by feeling your perceived flaw. Since the disorder is on the obsessive-compulsive spectrum, behavior can be similar to OCD. If you have BDD, it is also very likely that you have OCD as well. You may even begin to feel the appearance through compulsive behavior. The desire to feel sorry for yourself is intense, as you react more negatively to the thoughts. Certain behaviors like not eating and rash decisions are used to help compensate for the feelings of inadequacy. The problem is that the obsessions over your appearance and perceived ugliness never go away. You then have to stop seeing something bad that happened as a reason to remain miserable.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
7. Suicidal Behavior
While it is understood that body dysmorphic disorder varies in degree, it still requires the symptoms to be serious. This leads me to believe that the numbers are spiked, even if some symptoms can indicate otherwise. Suicidal behavior is one of these symptoms, and it’s severity should not be understated. In the moment, everything seems like nothing will end, like most other significant feelings leading to suicide. The extreme thinking brought on can lead your imagination to constantly get the best of you. Unfortunately, you have to see yourself as powerful enough to overcome the suicidal thoughts. It is not the only thing you will have to rely on, as your feelings about your appearance become better. It will take some patience and understanding, but realizing how good you have it now is a good step.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
8. Somatoform Symptoms
Body dysmorphic disorder is considered a somatoform disorder, which means that you feel a sickness that is not there. With BDD, you literally feel the symptoms of your ugliness and always look for something to blame it on. You can become paranoid that others are seeing you or that an accident ruined you. The lack of an ability to focus on anything but a flaw becomes worsened. The feelings are often exaggerated, leading to the visual symptoms to become worse. If you feel like you are flawed, you will happen to see it more and more. It becomes a winding staircase that never stops going up, which causes further stress, anxiety, and depression. Even if someone else had something else happen to them, it will always be worse for you. Unless this person is literally missing all of their limb, you will be remain the ugliest.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
9. Clinical Stress
If you are a person dealing with body dysmorphic disorder, you have a tendency to overreact. Since there is literally nothing you feel like you can do, you may also feel trapped. You will constantly relive the flaws of your appearance over and over again in your head. When you think that you finally feel good about something, the stress of your appearance will rear it’s ugly head. There is no end in sight, as the more you fight it, the more you fail. The thoughts will become overwhelming to the point that you end up losing track of them. There is nothing you can do, as you entirely develop into a writhing pit of pain. The way you end up displaying your appearance to hide your flaws will only make it worse. This can lead to you wanting nothing else but a good nap to take it all away.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
10. Not Eating
Those struggling with anorexia nervosa or muscle dysmorphia alongside BDD can struggle with not eating. While they are not necessarily similar disorders, they are often comorbid. It should also be noted that those struggling with BDD by itself can avoid eating as well. If you are worried about becoming overweight, starving yourself becomes a more viable option. Not only this, those struggling with this disorder often see themselves as fat. This, along with severe stress, can reduce someone’s appetite to the point of starvation. It is not to say that overeating cannot be an issue, but it is not as significant or common from BDD alone. The starvation diet adopted by sufferers is a way to compensate for their ugliness. Your jaw will always be too small, and you want the world to know it.
Final Thoughts:
With BDD, it almost seems like the sufferer is asking for it. If they know that something actually deformed them, all else goes out the window. The worsened feeling simply comes from the disorder and something else making it worse. can happen to just about anyone, but not everyone ends up feeling the pain. It was all real to begin with, but something really bad can help give perspective. This does not mean that the pain was all nothing to begin with. Try to get help without making your problem worse than it has to be. It should not come down to appreciate what you have, as this is vapid. The thing is that it is true, and it is hard to share it without something not being taken the wrong way. Try to stop wasting your time exhausted without feeling as though you should just waste more.
10 Worst Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
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Godspeed
Quit assuming the worst in what other people and yourself think, and you will be well on your way. It is not to say that you are ugly, but interpretations can be deceiving. Try to be on the same page instead of letting all of the symptoms tackle you all at once.