Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Five Key issues in Body Dysmorphic Disorder

1. Feeling Unattractive

Body dysmorphic disorder also may be present with an eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, especially if it involves a weight-related part of the body, such as the waist, hips or thighs. You may fanatically compare yourself with the appearance of others to continue to evaluate your appearance see how you look. You may feel tormented by this. Often people suffering with anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder compare themselves to anyone who is in the same age group. In this comparison almost always they see themselves as less than the other person.

2. Anxiety

Anxiety and self-conscious around others because of an imagined defect in your body is one of the major symptoms of BDD. Social isolation social phobia and other negative impacts, can cause major difficulties in functioning. These can include refusing to do daily activities such as school or work as well as lead to being homebound due to the feeling that you do not measure up to other people based on your looks.

3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder often associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. If you have OCD, you may experience pounding uncontrollably thoughts about your body being fat. The only way to rid yourself of these thoughts may be to restrict your eating to very little amounts of caloric intake in a day. A history of or genetic predisposition to obsessive-compulsive disorder may make you more vulnerable to BDD.

4. Low Self-Esteem

You may feel if you can just look perfect on the outside other people will find you appealing and you will not get rejected. If you are rejected however, you may be unable to look at the objective situation and blame yourself. You may feel you are not good enough. This is often related with low self-esteem, shame and embarrassment which gets focused on your body rather than on yourself as a total person.

5.Psychological, Behavioral or cultural factors

You may feel less than others in your family or you may feel your parents expectations of you are than you are able to do. At times when people cannot perform to the degree that is expected academically or in professional environments, they tend to try to make their body perfect. People from families of higher socioeconomic status or strict cultural standards may experience body dysmorphic disorder more often. Someone who feels that he or she must live up to unobtainable or unrealistically high expectations for personal appearance and success may be more prone to BDD.

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