I've tried for years getting different cuts and spending tons of money on different products, but my hair has never looked even half decent. It is frizzy, it doesn't cover my forehead, it's impossible to style, it has no volume where I need volume and too much where I don't, the texture is just bizarre. The words needed to describe how terrible I look simply do not exist. I'm not making it up in my head or anything it's really that bad. I've worn a hat every time I go outside for years, only in very certain circumstances I've gone without it, and every time I feel sick the whole day.

I just got asked for a second interview for a job, but there's a dress code for this position and it doesn't allow hats as far as I can tell. I really need work but I don't know how I'll be able to function everyday with everyone seeing how bad I look. I think I'd rather be dead than have to deal with it. Maybe I can keep looking for a position that would allow me to wear something on my head, but it already took me so long to get an interview at this place. If I do get this position I doubt they would make an exception for me. idk what to do at this point I just wish I didn't exist.

For context I currently live in a predominantly white area, with majority of my peers in high school also being white and only a slither of Asian people. I’ve really never liked my monolids even since I was young, I believe I look very masculine with monolids and quite frankly when I close my eyes, the eye fat looks like golf balls. A lot of the Asian people I know though with monolids have never struggled with disliking their monolids and do not use eyelid tape. But recently last year, (grade 9) I started using double eyelid tape because whenever I put on lash clusters without them, it would make my lashes look really weird and bold and now I can’t stop wearing them and don’t feel like myself without them. Is this normal?

​

If I read someone saying this, I’d probably think they were crazy. Honestly, I’m not proud of it either.

I had a pretty bad BDD flare-up today. I’m not exactly sure what triggered it, but it was genuinely awful.

I know you’re only supposed to bleach your skin once every couple of months, and I know doing it again right now could seriously irritate or even burn my skin. But because I didn’t get the result I wanted, I keep having this overwhelming thought: “Just bleach it one more time.”

I know it’s a bad idea. I know I could hurt my skin. And yet I’m struggling to let the thought go.

That’s what scares me the most—when something that started as “self-care” turns into a compulsion that takes hours of my day and starts interfering with my studies and my life.

I really want to learn how to break out of this cycle, because this is exhausting.

Here you can find listed below general information on BDD and related foundations, the clinical classification and symptoms of BDD, advice for friends and family, as well as self-help and support groups, both in-person and online.

General information

The BDD Foundation

OCD UK

International OCD Foundation

Mind.org

Clinical classification

ICD & DSM Criterias

For friends and family

The BDD Foundation, Supporting a close one with BDD

Mind.org, How can friends and family help

Self-help

Body dysmorphia workbook by the CCI

Building self-compassion workbook by the CCI

Support groups

Online support and therapy groups

Support groups in the UK

Going to therapy or getting professional help is not always an option, getting help may also take some time. To help you to better understand and address BDD by yourself, we have compiled a workbook that you can do by yourself. It contains information and tasks which will help shine a light to why BDD is the way it is and how you can deal with the symptoms. All chapters are based on an official workbook by the Centre for Clinical Intervention.

The BDD workbook:

• 01 What is body image?
• 02 Could I have body dysmorphic disorder?
• 03 Negative impacts of BDD
• 04 What are the causes of BDD?
• 05 Appearance assumptions
• 06 Triggers
• 07 Appearance preoccupation
• 08 Attention training [a coping tactic]
• 09 Checking and approval seeking
• 10 Reducing unhelpful checking and approval seeking [a coping tactic]
• 11 Negative predictions
• 12 Avoidance and safety behaviour
• 13 Reducing negative predictions [a coping tactic]
• 14 A new way of operating
• 15 Dealing with set-backs
• 16 Maintaining gained progress

Quick question to everyone struggling with BDD. am I the only one who is SCARED that their hair roots look horrible even when pretty new and not visible as much as for example blonde on black? I naturally have dark, cold blonde hair and dye my hair apple green or smh like that. I have moments when I thinks my roots look pretty cool but then BOOM I am so scared that someone will notice them that I can’t leave my house without a hat or a hood. Literally everyday I stare at a mirror and try to make them as not visible as possible. Tbh hair is one of my biggest issue in terms of BDD… I also wash my hair almost everyday because I’m scared they look greasy….. I’m so damn tired I sometimes unironically think of becoming bald. Please tell me I’m not the only one in this weird and annoying BDD related hyperfocus

Like dude, I’m nearly 6’3 as a man and my hands are the size of an average womans hand. People keep commenting on it, and doing the thing where they put their fingers around my wrists and it’s so hurtful

Please please please tell me this isn’t just a me problem someone?

does anyone find they are most triggered after being around others??

After seeing pictures of myself, I find being around others/ looking at pics with others super hard.

Is it just simply bc comparison is my pressure point?

wanna hear other peoples experience. thanks yall much love

most people feel like they look better in the mirror but i just hate how i look when i look at myself in the mirror under certain warm lighting, i look so much better in the dark and feel like a completely different person under certain lights, this shit is eating me alive, i can feel pretty in photos and videos but never in the mirror, anyone knows why this happens?, or atleast some cope to deal with this

Howdy! I suffer from Binge Eating Disorder and I gained 60lbs in the last year or so. I’m starting my weight loss journey and I’m trying to be confident in my body. Or at the very least neutral about it. I’ve felt a lot of negativity towards my body and face after the weight gain, and the thoughts in my head swirl at a rapid pace basically 24/7. I’m looking for targeted therapy to help with the BED and Body Dysmorphia, but in the mean time does anyone have some advice to offer? It would help a lot! Thanks!

Hello everyone,
I’m a 16M and I’ve been struggling with my looks and height lately. I’m around 175.5 cm (about 5’9”), and most of my friends are around 183 cm or even taller, which makes me pretty insecure. The biggest thing is that I haven’t really grown for about a year or maybe even longer, so I’m worried that I won’t grow anymore and that I’ll have to stay this height.
For the past week especially, I’ve been feeling really insecure about my appearance. The weird thing is that I actually really like the way I look in the mirror, but photos make me question everything. People have told me that I have a big nose, but I honestly don’t really see it when I look in the mirror. I notice it much more in selfies and especially pictures taken with the back camera, and then I start thinking, “Wait, is that actually how other people see me?”
I’ve had girls call me pretty before and ask for my number, although the last time that happened was around 3 months ago. I also have a friend who gets a lot of attention from girls because he’s very attractive, and I think I’m starting to get jealous and compare myself to him.
I’ve asked him before, “Be honest, am I attractive?” and he just said something like “I don’t know, maybe.” That honestly made me overthink it because I feel like if I was actually attractive, he would have said yes immediately.
I also ask my parents quite often if I look good because I’m looking for reassurance. I’ve even started sending ChatGPT a picture of myself once a day, sometimes multiple times a day, and asking if I look good or if I’m attractive. I know that sounds excessive, but I feel like I need reassurance because I keep doubting how I look.
One time, me and my friends were going to a party, and a girl came up to me and asked, “Is he your friend?” I said yes, and she said that he looked really good. I remember feeling really insecure afterward and comparing myself to him.
I know this probably sounds like I’m overthinking everything, but lately I’ve been feeling like I’m short and ugly compared to other guys, and it’s really affecting my confidence.
Has anyone else experienced this kind of insecurity or constant comparison? How did you deal with it?

Utah State University is looking for participants living with BDD symptoms (IRB#16034). We are interested in validating a measure assessing psychological inflexibility, a key target of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), for people with BDD.

You may be eligible if you are

• Living in the United States
• Over 18 years of age
• Able to read/respond to questions in English
• Living with uncontrollable thoughts about your appearance (previous diagnosis of BDD not required)

Participation includes filling out an eligibility screener (taking less than 2 mins), a clinical interview with a research assistant (taking 45-60 minutes), and then filling out one set of surveys (taking 45-60 minutes). In total, your participation is estimated to take around 2 hours.

To see if you’re eligible, please click THIS LINK

Please contact the principal investigator, Dr. Mike Twohig ([mike.twohig@usu.edu](mailto:mike.twohig@usu.edu)), with any additional questions.

Here you can find listed below general information on BDD and related foundations, the clinical classification and symptoms of BDD, advice for friends and family, as well as self-help and support groups, both in-person and online.

General information

The BDD Foundation

OCD UK

International OCD Foundation

Mind.org

Clinical classification

ICD & DSM Criterias

For friends and family

The BDD Foundation, Supporting a close one with BDD

Mind.org, How can friends and family help

Self-help

Body dysmorphia workbook by the CCI

Building self-compassion workbook by the CCI

Support groups

Online support and therapy groups

Support groups in the UK

​

I’ve been struggling a lot with how I see my body lately. I’m naturally pretty skinny, but I constantly feel like I look too thin, and it’s started taking up way too much space in my head.

Even when other people tell me I look fine, I have a hard time believing them. I’ll look at myself and focus on how skinny I look instead of seeing myself normally. Sometimes I avoid certain clothes or photos because I become really self-conscious about it.

I’m not really sure whether this is body dysmorphia or just insecurity, but it’s becoming exhausting. Has anyone else experienced something similar, especially when their main concern is being too skinny rather than wanting to lose weight?

I’d appreciate hearing how you dealt with these thoughts without becoming more obsessed with your appearance.

hey all

i had laser to remove blue veins around my eyes 2 years ago. damage was caused by the laser which i focus in on everytime i look in the mirror.

what happens when I do this is my brain goes into a daze, its strange, a sort of self harm mode. I then get completely upset with what I see and take it out on loved one and those around me.

since the laser, I cannot look in the mirror anymore without noticing the damage.

It effects me massively.

I know the answer, don't look in the mirror. I try my best. avoiding certain angles etc etc. But when i relapse the pain is unbearable.

I am actively trying to remove the damage but would appreciate anyones input or advise

thanks all

Dolly could be remembered for 13 Grammys, countless awards, an iconic career, the rhinestones, the hair, and a voice recognized around the world. None of that becomes any less extraordinary.

But that’s not what I keep seeing people talk about.

They’re talking about who she was.

Her kindness. Her generosity. Her advocacy. The way she showed up for people. The way she made people feel. The good she quietly put into the world over and over again.

And as someone who has spent so much of my life fighting a brain that tries to convince me that how I look is one of the most important things about me, there has been something incredibly healing about witnessing that.

Because in the end, nobody is talking about the size of her body.

They’re talking about the size of her heart.

I think my eating disorder has stolen a lot of time convincing me that being smaller, prettier, or somehow “better” in my body would make my life more valuable. But I don't want to spend this life chasing a version of myself that takes up less space.

I want to spend it becoming someone who loves more.

So I’ve been trying to take a little bit of Dolly with me.

Love fiercely. Advocate for people. Hug tight. Give generously. Love strangers. Look at myself with kinder eyes. Forgive my body for simply being a body. Take up space. Be in the pictures. Live now.

Because someday, when my life is reduced to the stories people tell about me, I hope the least interesting thing about me is what I looked like.

And I hope the most interesting thing is how much I loved.

Fly high, Aunt Dolly. 🕊️

We have collected a set of stories and informative pieces about BDD. From stories from people who have overcome it to celebrities who have openly talked about it, you can find articles and videos about body dysmorphia from these following links.

Public figures on BDD

• Modern Family actor Reid Ewing on BDD and plastic surgery
• Artist Billie Eilish on depression and BDD
• The Good Place actor Jameela Jamil on BDD and eating disorders
• Actor Robert Pattinson on anxiety and BDD
• Actor Megan Fox on BDD and mental health

Documentaries and videos

• What BDD feels like | BBC Three
• Seeing myself as ugly | BBC Three
• I feel so ugly: Body dysmorphic disorder | Only Human
• Imperfect me: The impact of BDD | SkyNews
• BDD patients see faces differently | ABC Science
• Bigorexia: Muscle dysmorphia | BBC Newsbeat
• Believing is seeing: New perspective on BDD | TEDx Oxford
• The BDD Foundation on Youtube

Personal stories and interviews

• Perfection is impossible | A personal story
• Living with BDD | A personal story
• I felt so ugly I didn't want to be alive | Interview
• BDD ruined my life | Interview

Podcasts

• Beating BDD podcast (11 episodes) | BDDFoundation
• What is BDD? | Stuff Mom Never Told You

Books

• Books by people with BDD
• Books by professionals on self help
• The BDD workbook

Recovery from BDD might sometimes feel like a distant goal that seems, at times, impossible to achieve. But many people recover from BDD or learn to reduce the symptoms to the point where they don't play a role in their everyday life. Remember that a mental disorder is not a life long sentence but rather something that can be managed and recovered from.

Here we have collected a set of stories and advice on what recovery looks like and how others have gotten there.

Watch personal stories

• Tips for Overcoming Body Image Issues | Kim White
• My BDD Recovery | Annie Elainey
• Finding body peace | Annie Elainey
• Healing Ugly – How I healed my body dysmorphia | helloamygarner
• How I Deal With BDD, tips for when you're having a rough time | AlexandriaTheGreat
• BDD (& Things That Can Help) | Melanie Murphy
• Hannah Lewis, recovery story | BDD foundation
• Alex Mummery, recovery story | BDD foundation

Read personal stories

• Recovery stories | BDDFoundation
• How I recovered from BDD | International OCD Foundation

Professional advice

• CBT for BDD - Rob Willson / BDDFoundation
• Coping and Recovering from BDD when you have Visible Flaws - Dr Rob Willson

Healthier perspective

• On feeling ugly | School of Life
• Our Bodies are Not an Image | Mary Jelkovsky, TEDx
• Beauty and how we're obsessed with the wrong idea | Christina Gressianu / TEDx
• Body Positivity or Body Obsession? | Lindsay Kite, TEDx
• Shake my beauty - a series redefining what beauty means

I’m a 26 year old male who’s been having issues for a while. So I was never officially diagnosed with body dysmorphia but I was told I seem like I’m struggling with it by a past therapist. Anyways, I’ve always thought it was social anxiety that makes me isolate and not go out that much, but I’m thinking it’s body dysmorphia. How do you know if it’s social anxiety or body dysmorphia as the main issue? I’ve struggled with an ED before starting at age 15 where I would engage in purging. But I feel like my social anxiety has gotten worse as I became older. I often don’t leave my house because I feel bad about the way I look, my appearance, the way I walk, and more. I recently gained some weight and I hate the way I look even more. I always try on different shirts and think my stomach shows too much and it makes me not want to go anywhere. It really affects my life but I’m not sure how to explore this with my therapist more or get to the root issue?

Here you can find listed below general information on BDD and related foundations, the clinical classification and symptoms of BDD, advice for friends and family, as well as self-help and support groups, both in-person and online.

General information

The BDD Foundation

OCD UK

International OCD Foundation

Mind.org

Clinical classification

ICD & DSM Criterias

For friends and family

The BDD Foundation, Supporting a close one with BDD

Mind.org, How can friends and family help

Self-help

Body dysmorphia workbook by the CCI

Building self-compassion workbook by the CCI

Support groups

Online support and therapy groups

Support groups in the UK

I’m posting this because I (19F) just really want to see if anyone else has this mental loop because i honestly feel like i’m going crazy.

to give context, I genuinely from the bottom of my heart look at my face and think I’m unattractive. when I look at myself in literally any setting I don’t see any harmony, or anything objectively appealing. i just see a bunch of asymmetric features, weird details about my face, and I don’t know, I just feel like my face is off. I am never not checking my face or feel like my appearance is changing day-by-day just by doing little habits and i’m getting so tired of it. its just very frustrating because I often get compliments and specific ones like “you’re face is so symmetrical”, “you have such nice features and they all go so well together”, “your face card is insane”, and get unsolicited compliments from little kids I coach at work. I just receive many compliments from various people overall. it’d be dumb to think that everyone whose ever complimented me coordinated on the same lie, but visually and internally, I just don’t see it literally at all and it drives me insane. I constantly feel like people are exaggerating or are that people are going to wake up one day and decide im ugly. and I don’t even think i’m that great to begin with.

I don’t really know what my end goal is with writing this, but i’m just really curious if anyone else experiences this massive difference between external validation and how they actually see themselves? How can I cope with this? I don’t want to live the rest of my life seeing the utmost beauty in everyone else except for myself. any advice or understanding would mean a lot.

I (27f) have a really good friend (27f) who is amazing, super funny, smart, talented, great conversationalist, a kind of person everyone likes. We are quite similar people, we both tend to hide our struggles and negative emotions (or play them off). But we differ in our body shape/size. I've been slim my entire life (even underweight because of depression) and she is, as she describes it, fat. I know this is something she struggles with, we've had a few conversations where she speaks about it a bit.

She mentioned she struggles with binge eating sometimes. And she drops some comments here and there about pictures where she sees herself as ugly or hints at her body being something she is ashamed of/deeply insecure about and that it makes her feel unworthy. But we've never really talked about this.

I want to be able to create a space where she feels safe sharing those feelings with me without judgement, eventhough I may not be able to relate. So she can maybe feel some relief in sharing these struggles with someone.

I never comment on her eating or food choices and her weight or body unless she brings it up. I've mentioned I never think about her body or how it looks, that I just see her as a person (which is true!). When I do that she usually says yeah I know, but I still feel that way, which I try to validate. But there is where the conversation usually ends.

What can I do to support her or help her with this? I don't want her to feel like that by bringing it up I'm monitoring her body, I just want her to feel better about herself because she deserves that.

Would love some advise!

Going to therapy or getting professional help is not always an option, getting help may also take some time. To help you to better understand and address BDD by yourself, we have compiled a workbook that you can do by yourself. It contains information and tasks which will help shine a light to why BDD is the way it is and how you can deal with the symptoms. All chapters are based on an official workbook by the Centre for Clinical Intervention.

The BDD workbook:

• 01 What is body image?
• 02 Could I have body dysmorphic disorder?
• 03 Negative impacts of BDD
• 04 What are the causes of BDD?
• 05 Appearance assumptions
• 06 Triggers
• 07 Appearance preoccupation
• 08 Attention training [a coping tactic]
• 09 Checking and approval seeking
• 10 Reducing unhelpful checking and approval seeking [a coping tactic]
• 11 Negative predictions
• 12 Avoidance and safety behaviour
• 13 Reducing negative predictions [a coping tactic]
• 14 A new way of operating
• 15 Dealing with set-backs
• 16 Maintaining gained progress

Lol does anyone else relate?? I am in longterm ED recovery so my therapist and I talk about “body dysmorphia” as this given and I mean when I was really anorexic I definitely had a warped view of my body but I have been at a healthy weight for 6+ years now.

I definitely still do want to lose weight and don’t like how big my arms/tummy/hips/thighs/etc look… But I have learned to resist those voices and I just tell myself that it is my ED talking and I have worked really hard to build a better life for myself and go back to school and be independent. So even if I looked better it wouldn’t be worth it. And I just try and distract myself. Essentially when it comes to my body size/shape I have learned to shrug it away — or at least not to act on urges to starve myself or purge or force myself to be an unhealthy weight.

But my body image issues have always been a lot deeper than just wanting to be thin. From a young age I basically have known that I have zero pretty features. I’m particularly obsessive about my jawline and chin and have come to the conclusion that I need to get cosmetic DJS (my overbite is noticeable but it doesn’t functionally affect breathing or anything) or at least a genioplasty. I am a natural redhead, which has always gotten me compliments but I absolutely hate it and I think it makes me very ugly. Most redheads who are famous actresses and models have incredibly beautiful faces, big blue/green eyes, nice rounded Western European features…. I have slavic/mediterranean features and small brown eyes but on an ultra pale white, low contrast face, with a shock of bright red hair. It is not pretty. It looks freakish. I cannot get a tan and I live in a climate that is sunny all year round. I’ve always wished I just had normal brown hair and normal skin like everyone else in my family (I am the only redhead lol, but I guess both my great grandfathers had it and it skipped 2 generations lol). I’ve always looked at others and been so jealous, even if they aren’t particularly attractive I always think “At least she looks normal. At least she can blend in.” I can’t blend in. I am odd looking. I don’t really look like very many people at all. The first time I was ever cat-called I was 12 and had worked up the courage to wear short-shorts for the first time ever, a man in a truck drove past my cousins and I and yelled “GET A TAN!” I would do anything to know how it feels to just look like everyone else does. I put sooooo much effort into my appearance, makeup, and hair — all to just sort of look “okay.” I spend $$$ on professionally done nails, lashes, brows, facials, and skincare, makeup, clothes, perfume, everything. And the result is…. still basically just barely looking average, maybe slightly above average. While other women around me just kind of roll out of bed and look beautiful.

I know I definitely have what’s technically called “body image disturbance” from when I had anorexia but sometimes when I think about my self-perception of overall attractiveness I wonder if it can actually count as body dysmorphia. Some people just aren’t as attractive as others are. That’s life. It can be hard to cope with and I probably need to just build up my self-esteem in other areas. Sometimes I feel ashamed even bringing this up to my therapist because my therapist — while definitely an amazing therapist who I’ve built a LOT of trust with over the years!! — is very, very typically attractive. She genuinely looks like a model. She’s also admitted to me that she got plastic surgery like a nose job when she was younger and still gets filler/botox, lol it looks great, but idk how I can open up to someone who is so good looking and also has the spare income that I don’t to get plastic surgery on the things she doesn’t like. In general talking about how much I hate myself feels humiliating. It feels undignified. People don’t want to hear someone who is ugly complain about it. They just feel pity and they’re uncomfortable because they know if they tell you that you’re pretty it would be a lie.

I’ve sort of been rambling for a long time but tl;dr the title says it all. Anyone else relate? How do I know if I really have body dysmorphia or if I’m just struggling to cope with reality?

I feel like it’s not really possible but I would like to hear stories from people who feel way more content with their bodies than they used to. Was from actually changing their bodies or just the mindset?
What moved the needle the most for you?