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Last updated on June 25th, 2024 at 08:27 pm
You might have body dysmorphia if you are spending hours a day in front of the mirror pinching at your skin, trying to cover up a flaw, or obsessing over the parts of your body you feel are “too fat.”
Body dysmorphia can feel like an all-consuming full-time job. Body dysmorphia often co-occurs with medical conditions like depression, anxiety, or eating disorders.
IIf you have body dysmorphia you probably:
- Fixatine on perceived flaws
- Make a drastic effort to get rid of “flaws”
- Have extreme guilt about parts of their body they think are “wrong”
- Often feel anxious or shameful
- Avoiding social settings
The DSM-IV classifies body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) as being a preoccupation with a perceived flaw that significantly impacts one’s wellbeing.
This article explores some of the questions you should be asking yourself if you feel like you might have body dysmorphia. It explores risk factors and treatment for body dysmorphia. Let’s dig in.
Common Body Dysmophia Concerns
If you have body dysmorphia, you might be fixated on a certain feature or your body weight/shape or size. While any part of your body can cause anxiety, shame and guilt, there are certain body features that are more common to show up as feeling “problematic ” in BDD.
Anxiety in BDD might come from concerns with:
- Nose shape/size
- Genetalia
- Buttox
- Muscle tone
- Stomach
- Scars
- Cellulite
- Body weight
Symptoms of Body Dysmorphia
People with body dysmorphia will often go to great lengths to try to cover up or get rid or correct the part of their body they consider to be grotesque.
Symptoms of body dysmorphia might include:
- Skin picking
- Changing clothes frequently
- Cosmetic surgery
- Weight loss surgery
- Excessive grooming
Body Dysmorphia and Eating Disorders
Body dysmorphia and eating disorders have many symptoms in common.
Signs of body dysmorphia that are also common in eating disorders include:
- Fixation on perceived body flaws
- Excessive calorie counting
- Significant interference with daily activities because you hate your body
- Avoidance of social situations
- Problems in romantic relationships
- Constantly checking your body in mirrors
- Checking your body with your hands or measuring tape to make sure you’re “okay”
- Comparing your body to others’ bodies
- Compulsive exercise
- Suicidal ideation or self-harm
Eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder as two different clinical diagnoses. While these conditions can co-occur this is not always the case. It should not be presumed that just because someone has an eating disorder they will always have BDD and vise versa.
Can I Self-Diagnose Body Dysmorphia
No.
Body dysmorphic disorder is a real clinical condition that can only be properly diagnosed by a licensed mental health provider.
Self-diagnosing body dysmorphia may be harmful because:
- A self-diagnosis of body dysmorphia can cause you to dismiss other clinical conditions
- You may miss out on appropriate treatment if you self-diagnose BDD
- You cannot access appropriate medications with a self-diagnosis of BDD
- You may begin harmful behaviors as a result of not having a proper diagnosis or treatment
- You might miss eating disorder behaviors and attribute them to body dysmorphia
Appropriate diatnosis of body dysmorphia can help you get access to a physician, mental health provider and dietitian if needed to manage your clinical symptoms.
Body Dysmorphia Test Questions
To determine if symptoms of body dysmorphia are present, an assessment should include:
- How much time do I fixate on my body or my flaws throughout the day?
- Is my disgust with my body impacting my relationships?
- Do I spend a lot of time correcting (or attempting to correct) parts of my body I dislike?
- Am I disgusted, anxious, or guilty about the parts of my body I dislike?
- Do I avoid social activities because I’m afraid people will see the parts of my body I hate?
A qualified mental health professional will dig into these behaviors and concerns more intensely to determine an official body dysmorphia diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
Treatment for Body Dysmorphia
Body dysmorphia will not go away on its own. You will often need to work with a licensed mental health provider and physician to safely and effectively treat your body dysmorphia.
If your body dysmorphia co-occurs with an eating disorder you will also need to focus on an ed recovery with an eating disorder dietitian.
In addition to working with a healthcare team, there are other great ways to promote body positivity such as:
- Journaling using body positive journal prompts
- Using urge surfing when you want to try to compensate for a flaw
- Try to make peace with food if body dysmorphia is related to weight/shape or size
- Identify your own fatphobia to make peace with your body
- Practice joyful movement instead of using movement to compensate for perceived flaws
- Reduce body checking
- Take time to grieve your smaller body where necessary
- Practice using body positive affirmations or placing these on your mirror
- Seek out recovery books and podcasts
Remember that body dysmorphia is one of the warning signs of an eating disorder. If you feel you have an eating disorder, its critical you seek professional support as soon as possible. You can check out my anorexia story to see some of the personal ways body dysmorphia showed up in my life, and the tools I used to work thorugh it.
It can be difficult to know how to tell someone you have an eating disorder and/or body dysmorphia. Seeking out a trusted friend or family member can make this difficult process less scary..
The body dysmorphia quiz below is NOT a diagnosis. It is for informational and educational perposes only and is not medical advice. If after completing the quiz you feel you have many symptoms pointing to BDD, seek out the care of a qualified mental health specialist or physician.
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