After watching Oprah’s talkshow today, I became interested what Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is and found the following explanation:
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental disorder which involves a disturbed body image. The central feature of BDD is that persons who are afflicted with it are excessively dissatisfied with their body because of a perceived physical defect. An example would be a man who is extremely worried that his nose is too big, although other people don’t notice anything unusual about it.
Source: Wikipedia
It seems so many people out there are suffering this mental illness and perhaps that’s the reason why they do plastic surgeries to get a better image of themselves. The worst case which could happen to someone with this disorder is that they even don’t have guts to look at his/her body in front of mirror and get socialized aka social phobia. However, this can be cured and there are some treatments to minimize the effect of this BDD. Mostly the best methods are coming from yourself, like: (adapted from BDD Central’s FAQ)
- Living a life where you can look forward to the future
- Be confident to try new things
- Be productive so that you have less time to think about your look
- Be happy and grateful with what you have and always think that there are so many people who might not be as lucky as you are
- Be patient and dare to make mistakes, face fears and use your willpower
- Keep positive thinking and challenge your old beliefs
I know it is easy to say but hard to do. Nevertheless with the support of family, friends and medical assistance and yourself, it is 100% obtainable.
I wish you all a healthy life and let’s hope this disorder is never coming to us. Being yourself is the way to go! 🙂
Reference:
– BDD Central
Kemas Antonius 