Body Dysmorphic Disorder

[Triple Bogey]

just a moment ago I came across this terrible movie, I haven't been able to go past the first ten minutes, because that was so close to how I often felt many years ago

http://documentaryheaven.com/too-ugly-for-love/

I saw it a few years ago. It's very sad.

I am nothing like those poor people. While I don't particular like my looks, I never obsess about them.

I used to be like that for several years, the ironic thing is during those years there went my "aesthetic peak", never to come again - it's like I went crazy for some years, very strange to look back at it

so it's different to someone who is unattractive ?
All three people in the program were good looking.

 

[Peaches]

I think most people are in some way attractive, and that even conventionally unattractive people can become attractive thanks to their expressiveness and with some grooming.

I guess they picked especially good-looking people for the documentary to show how this mental state has nothing to do with actual looks - and also because tv is cheap and good-looking people sell better..

 

[TheRealCallie]

It doesn't matter if you are attractive or unattractive. The whole thing about BDD is that you see things that aren't there. You see yourself in a way that isn't reality. You can be "unattractive" and still have BDD. You can be a super model and have BDD.

A lot of people with eating disorders have BDD because they can't see their bodies the way they really are, which is how some people can get to be skeletal, because they don't see their bodies getting too thin, they still see themselves as fat. I've suffered with it before and at times I still do, but now I know not to judge myself on what I see in the mirror. Very few people IRL know the full extent of my past with EDs, but I have a few close friends I can ask if I start getting paranoid about things. I also use a tape measure to see how big I actually am...my arms, my legs, my stomach. I very rarely get to that point anymore and it takes a lot of stress to send me back to those thoughts.
I've also had issues with my face, but as I've said before in other threads, I know how I see myself is not how everyone else sees me, so I know it's not reality and I just let it go and move on from it now.

 

[Zook]

I've suffered with severe Body Dysmorphic Disorder since I started puberty. It has plagued my life and stopped me living a normal life. It's got slightly better with age, but I'm still not able to hold down a job or even go out sometimes because I hate how I look.
There needs to be more awareness about BDD. I believe it's responsible for a number of suicides and I know of people who literally live like hermits because of it.