When you look in the mirror, do you hate what you see? For many people living with body dysmorphia, this is their reality. They see their physical appearance as wrong or flawed more than the average person. To them, it’s not enough to acknowledge that no one is perfect.
The number of people with body dysmorphia is on the rise, especially as social media continues to pervade day-to-day life. It’s hard not to compare yourself to others online who look like they have the perfect life. However, if you have body dysmorphia, it’s practically impossible to ignore how others look compared to yourself. Your symptoms can seem to control your life, making it impossible to focus on anything else.
If you have body dysmorphia, you might find yourself stuck in an overwhelming cycle of hating how you look and being stressed by hating how you look. If these thoughts make it difficult to function, it’s time to seek help.
What Is Body Dysmorphia in Medical Terms?
Body dysmorphia, commonly diagnosed as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), is a condition that distorts how you see yourself. In other words, a person living with BDD can look in the mirror and see a different person than others see. You might think that you’re overweight when you’re not or that you’re unattractive when that is not the case.
Many people find flaws in their appearance. They may think that their skin is too uneven or that they need to lose a bit of weight. However, for people with BDD, these flaws are more overwhelming. You might fixate on your physical flaws, spending hours worrying about your appearance, even when it’s fine.
If you struggle with your appearance to the point that it affects your day-to-day life and damages your mental health, you may benefit from consulting a mental health professional.
What Causes Body Dysmorphia?
There’s no specific known trigger for BDD, but scientists believe that it’s likely caused by a combination of issues, including negative experiences about your self-image, genetic influence, and abnormal levels of serotonin in the brain.
Risk Factors for Body Dysmorphia
Typically, BDD begins in the early adolescent years. It can affect both males and females, though the central focus varies across genders. Men tend to concern themselves with their musculature while women typically show more concerns about their legs or skin.
Common risk factors include:
- Having family members with BDD or obsessive-compulsive disorder (ODD)
- Experiencing childhood trauma, such as teasing, neglect, or abuse
- A tendency toward perfectionism
- Societal pressures and beauty standards
- Being bullied
- Having low self-esteem
- Co-occurring mental health disorders, such as anxiety or depression
Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
It is not always easy to tell the difference between general self-consciousness and body dysmorphia. People with BDD may feel as if their appearance is disgusting or embarrassing, and this inevitably can hurt their self-esteem. Common symptoms include:
- Hyper-focusing on a perceived appearance flaw
- Believing that your appearance is ugly or deformed
- Believing that others notice your appearance negatively
- Attempting to hide perceived flaws, such as frequently grooming or picking at parts you don’t like
- Heavy use of makeup, styling, or clothing styles that hide your perceived flaws
- Avoiding social situations
- Asking others if you look okay frequently
- Constantly comparing how other people look to yourself
Common features that people tend to fixate on include their skin, hair, muscle size and tone, genitalia, and breast size. You might know that you’re focused too much on your perceived flaws, but they still can cause mental distress.
Body Dysmorphia and Your Health
BDD shares several traits with OCD, except the person living with it remains preoccupied on their physical appearance. In some cases, you may be able to alter the parts of yourself, such as losing weight. In many other cases, however, your physical appearance can only be altered through surgeries. This can create a negative feedback loop, worsening anxiety and depression with time. As you worry, you dwell more, leading to further negative feelings.
Further, BDD can leave you feeling isolated as you try to avoid being around people who you perceive as judging you. All that worrying can be exhausting and even take a toll on your physical health. As body dysmorphia intensifies, you may start acting in ways that cause you harm. For example, some people with BDD develop anorexia or other eating disorders to try to lose weight, which can lead to malnutrition and worsening health issues.
The intense stress you may experience can also affect your body, creating symptoms such as:
- Stomachaches
- Rapid heartbeat
- Night terrors
- Anxiety attacks
- insomnia
- Intense self-consciousness
Social Media and its Effects on Body Dysmorphia
The rise of social media has created mounting pressures, especially on teenagers, to carefully curate a perfect life and appearance. The ease of using filters on selfies, for example, can create the false belief that other people look flawless. While social media itself isn’t to blame for body dysmorphia, it can contribute to its development.
BDD can lead people to strive for physical perfection, hoping to achieve the same flawless look presented so easily online. It can influence people to feel like they need to pursue cosmetic surgeries to fix their perceived flaws. In fact, a recent study revealed that the amount of time someone spends on social media and uses photo-editing software directly correlates with how likely they are to seek cosmetic procedures.
Another study cites adolescents developing BDD more frequently now than before. Within the study, researchers even acknowledge the effects of social media such as Facebook with negative mood and increased body image dissatisfaction in women.
When to Contact a Doctor
If you believe that your symptoms of BDD are negatively impacting your life, then it may be time to seek help from a medical professional. Diagnostic criteria include:
- Abnormal concern about a small or nonexistent body flaw.
- You focus on your body flaw so much that it interrupts your day-to-day life.
- The cause of your symptoms must not be attributed to any other mental health disorders.
Treating Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Taking the step toward recovery take courage, but you don’t have to live with these thoughts. Treatment is available. Your mental healthcare provider can help you create a custom treatment plan that helps you let go of your fixation on your perceived flaws and develop a healthier mindset moving forward.
Treatment will depend on several factors, such as how pervasive your BDD is in your daily life, your age, health, and medical history, and based on your opinion and preferences.
Talk therapy is a common first line of treatment, but medicines are available as well. Many people find that they benefit from both therapy and medication to help manage their BDD and return to their lives.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBD) is the most commonly used therapy for BDD. It helps you learn how to reframe your negative thoughts, behaviors, and reactions. Essentially, it helps you improve your mental health by changing how you think about topics such as your perceived flaws.
Medications can help by boosting the level of serotonin in your brain. Most commonly, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are used for this purpose, but these may not be for everyone.
You Can Break the Cycle of BDD and Take Back Control
If you have BDD, you might feel like it controls your life. You have the power to take that control back and break the cycle of obsessing and worrying about your appearance. Let the team at Restore Mental Health guide you to a better tomorrow so you can live comfortably in your own skin. If you’re ready to start speaking about your BDD, reach out today to speak with one of our licensed therapists.
With the rise of social media, one of the health conditions that has become more common is body dysmorphia. This disorder can put people on a downward spiral, leading to changes in their habits that can make them physically and mentally ill. While social media and body dysmorphia are sometimes linked, remember that this condition can develop even in people who don’t spend time online.
Social Media and Body Dysmorphia
Social media use and body dysmorphia are sometimes related, since people are exposed excessively to media that promotes physical perfection. It’s important to note, however, that social media alone does not cause body dysmorphia.
Body dysmorphia is damaging regardless of the cause. In a quest for “perfection,” some people turn to surgery, starvation diets or other drastic behaviors. Unfortunately, social media may spur people to embrace certain looks or trends, which can encourage unnecessary plastic surgeries and dissatisfaction with their natural appearances. In fact, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that there were 18.1 million cosmetic surgeries in the United States in 2019, an increase from the previous year. Additionally, over a million of the procedures were performed on people between the ages of 13 and 29, the group most likely to use social media heavily.
How Body Dysmorphia Can Create Other Mental Health Issues
The key issue with body dysmorphia is a preoccupation with your physical appearance. This cycle of worry can become so time consuming that it leads to other problems, such as anxiety, depression or interpersonal issues with friends or family.
Body dysmorphic disorder shares traits with obsessive-compulsive disorder and is associates with an increased risk of suicide. Left untreated, the disorder may intensify, which then creates a potential for severe depression and suicidal thoughts, which can be fatal.
How Body Dysmorphia Can Create or Worsen Physical Health Issues
As body dysmorphia develops and intensifies, it can cause actual problems with the body. For example, you may decide that you need to exercise regularly because you perceive yourself as too heavy, but by working out for long hours without rest, you may cause muscle strain, stress fractures or other problems.
If you restrict your eating, you could lose an excessive amount of weight and develop anorexia or another eating disorder. With this kind of condition, your body may not get the nutrients or hydration it needs to be healthy, and you could be at risk for fainting spells, cardiac arrest or other conditions.
Body dysmorphia also causes intense mental and physical stress, which can lead to physical or mental symptoms, such as:
- Stomachaches
- A pounding or racing heart
- Intense feelings of self-consciousness
- Night terrors
- Insomnia
- Anxiety attacks
It’s important to speak with a medical provider if you’re dealing with these symptoms, because there are treatments that can help.
Seek Help With Body Dysmorphia and Your Body Image
Whether you think you have social media-induced dysmorphia or have developed a problem with your appearance due to other circumstances, it is important to seek help as soon as you can.
It is essential that you speak with your medical provider about how you’re feeling and discuss the treatment options that may help you to feel better about your body and end the cycle of self-harm. You will likely not “get over” the disorder without help.
Treatment options may include the following.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, helps you reframe negative thoughts, behaviors and emotional reactions. The goal of CBT is to challenge the way you think and to encourage alternative ways of thinking that help you improve your mental health.
Medications
Medications may also be an option for some people with body dysmorphic disorder. The medications include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are currently the preferred class of therapeutic drugs for the disorder.
Support for Breaking the Cycle of BDD
Body dysmorphic disorder doesn’t have to control your life. You deserve the support you need to break out of the cycle of overthinking and obsessing about your appearance. At Restore Mental Health, we are here to help guide you on a path to better mental and physical health, so you can get back to living the life you want. Reach out to us today to speak with one of our supportive team members to learn more about what we can do to help.
