I am a Personal Stylist who has studied under-graduate psychology. Needless to say my work brings me into contact with people and their body neroses (of varying degrees of severity) on a regular basis. I am not a qualified psychologist and I am not looking to treat or give advice to such clients on how to handle their condition, rather I am simply looking for assitance on how to identify clients who may potentially have body dysmorphia (i.e. what questions might one ask potential clients) and to assess the severity of their condition?
As I said the aim is in no way treat such clients but simply to develop a level of awareness and sensitivity to such clients and understand what fears they face, etc. Any information would be useful and more importantly contact details of counsellors in the Cape Town area who would consider meeting with me to discuss in greater depth.
Hi, my name is rebecca and i live in a small town called wakefield within noth of the uk
i can remember the day i began to worry about how i looked and felt within side. I had barely turned 14 and i bought m 1st pair of high heeled shoes….It made me become away of change, that i was becomming an adult in someway which felt really uncomftable. Since then i have felt very depressed with this change…..I am 24 and only 5 feet tall and very petite frame…Alot of people think i look alot younger than my age so i feel odd that i look like a teen but have to act like an adult….Its a very odd feeling. My mum has always had a very negative opiion about herself and hides this well by being open and crazy….Confident, but beneath is a diff tale but i find myself acting the same way……I feel so ugly inside and out that i just hide it with confidence. School was a diff matter….In junior school i was sepertated from my class and had to learn with a single teacher who taught kids with learning difficuties, they always thought i was dislexic.
High school i got bullied for being ugly and small, it was a time in my life that has affected how i feel about my pysical appearance. Since school i have learned to like little bits about myself but still have that horrid feeling everyday deep inside me. I look in the mirror way too much and panick if i cant do my daily grooming routine. Without makeup i feel like the ugliest person alive, it affects my relationships because i wonder why anybody would want to me with me when there is so many attractive women out there. I just wish i had a body that was really womanly, i feel like i am trapped within a childs body with a half child mind and half adult mind. I hate my face, when i see it i just wish i could look normal as it looks so un cemetrical, i hate my nose in particular, its bumpy, vears to one side more than the other. Hate y teeth, they cross and and i look freak when i smile.
Alot of people think i am ver pretty but it just wont sink in and i just feel they must be just saying it to humour me. I hate my charactor and the way i say things, my whole laugh people have made fun of the little things i say…They think i am like my mum….But like i say she has such low self esteem about herself so i pick things up from her. I always have to make sure i have good clothes as this is my way of covering up the uglyiness, it makes me appear trendy and boosts me up a little. Comming back to talking about high school i will always remember everybody talking about the popular girls and who was pretty…I was never mentioned…Infact the boys would laugh at me and call me a ‘minger’ im always comparing myself to other women…..Wishing i was like the….Wondering how they must feel….Which is probabl happiness….Wondering how i would feel if i looked like them…Exstreme hapiness. I have had thoughts of suicide…..I change my apprearance alot drastically…Hair cuts, hair colour.
I just long to be happy within my own skin and lead a normal life which i feel i am not doing at all. I feel i need some sort of help but dont know where to turn as my family think i am pathetic in this way. They are not understanding at all to anything like this as they think it is all to do with being vein and selfishness. I feel guily about feeling this way as there is people out there with far wosrt things in their life they are dealing with but i just know it is something i cannot control in my brain as i have tried believe me……What can i do!!!!!! :’(
Rebecca, i am a tv producer working on a program about BDD. would you be interested in appearing on a program with a therapist about BDD and your experience?
I wonder if I suffer from this illness.I already have OCD and it has consumed my life.Recently I had a Breast Reduction which left me of course with scars.The Dr explained to me the risks and that there would be scars.I’m so focused on the scarring now and getting rid of it only now it is my whole stomach area.I feel this just progressing because I never want to have my photo taken.Please somebody help!!!
I have been always very self concious about my body and had some social anxiety . In the last year I lost 50lbs and continue to lose. Here in lies the problem…. I don’t see the “new body”, when I look in the mirror…. but what I do see now is hanging skin, hanging breasts and just an ugly body…. what do I do? I thought losing weight would change my self concious behavior… it’s only made it worse, and also it has changed my personality.. I use to laugh alot, be a friend to everyone.. instead I never laugh, can’t bear to go outside nor even be with friends… What can I do?
I freak over a pound and lift weights, swim, walk…karate.. what is going on??? Someone give me some insight PLZ!!!!
Los Angeles Body Dysmorphic Disorder Clinic
The Los Angeles Body Dysmorphic Disorder & Body Image Clinic is the first mental health clinic on the West Coast of the United States dedicated primarily to the evaluation and treatment of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and similar body image disturbances.
Massachusetts General Hospital Body Dysmorphic Disorder Clinic & Research Unit
The Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Clinic & Research Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School was founded in 1998 by Sabine Wilhelm, Ph.D. Currently, this is one of the few clinics in the United States, and the only clinic in Boston, specializing in the treatment and research of BDD.
The Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma
The Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma is a specialist treatment and research centre jointly run by the Specialist Director of the South London and Maudsley Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry (King's College London).
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Cath Bowen 04.17.09 at 11:45 am
Hi,
I am a Personal Stylist who has studied under-graduate psychology. Needless to say my work brings me into contact with people and their body neroses (of varying degrees of severity) on a regular basis. I am not a qualified psychologist and I am not looking to treat or give advice to such clients on how to handle their condition, rather I am simply looking for assitance on how to identify clients who may potentially have body dysmorphia (i.e. what questions might one ask potential clients) and to assess the severity of their condition?
As I said the aim is in no way treat such clients but simply to develop a level of awareness and sensitivity to such clients and understand what fears they face, etc. Any information would be useful and more importantly contact details of counsellors in the Cape Town area who would consider meeting with me to discuss in greater depth.
Thanks and Best,
Catherine Bowen
REBECCA ATKINSON 08.05.09 at 8:31 am
Hi, my name is rebecca and i live in a small town called wakefield within noth of the uk
i can remember the day i began to worry about how i looked and felt within side. I had barely turned 14 and i bought m 1st pair of high heeled shoes….It made me become away of change, that i was becomming an adult in someway which felt really uncomftable. Since then i have felt very depressed with this change…..I am 24 and only 5 feet tall and very petite frame…Alot of people think i look alot younger than my age so i feel odd that i look like a teen but have to act like an adult….Its a very odd feeling. My mum has always had a very negative opiion about herself and hides this well by being open and crazy….Confident, but beneath is a diff tale but i find myself acting the same way……I feel so ugly inside and out that i just hide it with confidence. School was a diff matter….In junior school i was sepertated from my class and had to learn with a single teacher who taught kids with learning difficuties, they always thought i was dislexic.
High school i got bullied for being ugly and small, it was a time in my life that has affected how i feel about my pysical appearance. Since school i have learned to like little bits about myself but still have that horrid feeling everyday deep inside me. I look in the mirror way too much and panick if i cant do my daily grooming routine. Without makeup i feel like the ugliest person alive, it affects my relationships because i wonder why anybody would want to me with me when there is so many attractive women out there. I just wish i had a body that was really womanly, i feel like i am trapped within a childs body with a half child mind and half adult mind. I hate my face, when i see it i just wish i could look normal as it looks so un cemetrical, i hate my nose in particular, its bumpy, vears to one side more than the other. Hate y teeth, they cross and and i look freak when i smile.
Alot of people think i am ver pretty but it just wont sink in and i just feel they must be just saying it to humour me. I hate my charactor and the way i say things, my whole laugh people have made fun of the little things i say…They think i am like my mum….But like i say she has such low self esteem about herself so i pick things up from her. I always have to make sure i have good clothes as this is my way of covering up the uglyiness, it makes me appear trendy and boosts me up a little. Comming back to talking about high school i will always remember everybody talking about the popular girls and who was pretty…I was never mentioned…Infact the boys would laugh at me and call me a ‘minger’ im always comparing myself to other women…..Wishing i was like the….Wondering how they must feel….Which is probabl happiness….Wondering how i would feel if i looked like them…Exstreme hapiness. I have had thoughts of suicide…..I change my apprearance alot drastically…Hair cuts, hair colour.
I just long to be happy within my own skin and lead a normal life which i feel i am not doing at all. I feel i need some sort of help but dont know where to turn as my family think i am pathetic in this way. They are not understanding at all to anything like this as they think it is all to do with being vein and selfishness. I feel guily about feeling this way as there is people out there with far wosrt things in their life they are dealing with but i just know it is something i cannot control in my brain as i have tried believe me……What can i do!!!!!! :’(
Llove Rebecca
Louie 01.07.10 at 2:36 pm
Rebecca, i am a tv producer working on a program about BDD. would you be interested in appearing on a program with a therapist about BDD and your experience?
Sue Roman 07.11.10 at 1:04 pm
I wonder if I suffer from this illness.I already have OCD and it has consumed my life.Recently I had a Breast Reduction which left me of course with scars.The Dr explained to me the risks and that there would be scars.I’m so focused on the scarring now and getting rid of it only now it is my whole stomach area.I feel this just progressing because I never want to have my photo taken.Please somebody help!!!
Jan M 07.20.10 at 5:54 pm
Hi guys…
I have been always very self concious about my body and had some social anxiety . In the last year I lost 50lbs and continue to lose. Here in lies the problem…. I don’t see the “new body”, when I look in the mirror…. but what I do see now is hanging skin, hanging breasts and just an ugly body…. what do I do? I thought losing weight would change my self concious behavior… it’s only made it worse, and also it has changed my personality.. I use to laugh alot, be a friend to everyone.. instead I never laugh, can’t bear to go outside nor even be with friends… What can I do?
I freak over a pound and lift weights, swim, walk…karate.. what is going on??? Someone give me some insight PLZ!!!!