Body Dysmorphia Essay

Often times we find ourselves dissatisfied with our appearance. Perhaps we find our nose too large, our eyes overly hooded, or our features undeniably uneven. However, these minor setbacks don’t prevent us from leading normal lives. Sure we may try to conceal our problem areas, but our concerns rarely escalate to obsessions. In essence, for the majority of us, our flaws are minor nuisances that we can easily dismiss. However, unfortunately, for a select few, these perceived flaws (imagined or real but often unnoticeable) can wreck havoc on ones life; consuming their attention, dictating their actions, and becoming their obsession. For these select few their preoccupation with their flaws is so acute as to cause severe impairment and distress in their every day life. What to some may appear as a foolish, vain, and incomprehensible fixation is actually the workings of Body Dysmorphic Disorder playing its course on these select few.

Every year society is bombarded with thousands of images of beautiful models and celebrities. This “reality” affects the sub-conscientious of many people with low self-esteem and fill the mind of both men and women with insecurities about their bodies. Plastic surgery appears appears as an easy way out to this matter, but actually, plastic surgery can be the tip of the iceberg of a very bad addiction. “It is more of a psychological issue than a physical addiction,” explains Canice E. PhD (Stresing.) The underlying psychological problems name is Body Dysmorphic Disorder, or BDD, a condition that can lead to a plastic surgery addiction (Stresing.) Plastic surgery can make someone feel less confident as they will always be thinking that others

“People who have body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are more likely to undergo plastic surgery -- and are less likely to find relief from it”, says Stephanie Watson. BDD is in people who are insecure about their body and find every tiny little flaw on them, then go out and get cosmetic surgery done to fix it. Once that’s done, they pick out another flaw to get fixed and the vicious cycle continues. This can sort of be described as an addiction to the surgery. You can also develop the disorder after getting 2 or 3 cosmetic surgery fixes done, and continuously having the surgery after that. Another writer, Melissa Dittmann, said “Anyone who goes into the procedure with unrealistic expectations is often disappointed by the results, leading to depression and other mental illnesses”. What she means by that is people want to look a very specific way, that they set their heart on looking that way and that way only. No exceptions. If they were to come out of the surgery with one little thing different than they expected, they can go into a very deep depression. The depression can be based on regretting why they did the surgery in the first place, how they aren't pleased with the outcome but now have to live with it, or other problems. Not only could the depression occur, but it could possibly lead to being even more self-conscious than before the surgery was done as well. This

Body image refers to the collection of beliefs, feelings and perceptions that an individual has about their physical appearance, and is a significant predictor of one’s physical and mental health (Gillen, 2015). Body image concern (BIC) is so pervasive that it is often referred to as a ‘normative discontent’ among both women and men (Tantleff-Dunn, Barnes, & Larose, 2011). It exists along a continuum, with higher levels indicating an unhealthy, clinically significant preoccupation with perceived or minor physical flaws, which is characteristic of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed., DSM-5, American Psychological Association, 2013). The severity of discontent,

What is actually the Body dysmorphic disorder meant for? You may not be familiar with this term. Then let’s have a quick view over it. The term Body dysmorphic disorder refers to a specific type of mental illness which involves belief that the appearance of a specific person is unusually defective in reality, the perceived flaw might be non-existent or if it exists then it is totally negligible, unnoticeable or its significance is highly over exaggerated. This disease is also known as dysmorphic syndrome or body dysmorphia. Sometime the thoughts of negative body images is intrusive for some people who are acutely affected by this disorder though how many times the thought will be come is

Upon reflection, I have decided to go into more research on this topic through the question of: What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder and how have print and television advertisements

Only 1 percent of Americans are estimated to have body dysmorphia, yet it is present in 15 percent of those undergoing plastic surgery (Nowak 20). This disorder greatly interferes with daily life, as it often results in solitude, excessive grooming, social inadequacies, and hours of obsession. For instance, 25 percent of those with body dysmorphia have been housebound for over a week (Metules 32ac4). Just like those with breast augmentation surgery, the rates of suicide among these patients are alarmingly high. People with body dysmorphia are 45 times more likely to commit suicide than the average person: 2 times more than those with major depression, and 3 times more than those with bipolar disorder. (Nowak 20) Evidently, candidates for aesthetic plastic surgery are facing problems far deeper than physical

Societal pressure also comes in the form of body shaming, which is defined as the criticism of another person’s body shape or appearance. According to a 2016 study, there is correlation between body shaming, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders, all of which happen to be most prevalent in young women (Mustapic p. 447). In recent years, body shaming has become a huge problem due to the popularity of social media platforms. Women of all shapes and sizes are ridiculed on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other sites for not conforming to societal normalities. The 2016 study also assessed eating disorders in relation to age and body mass index (BMI) of participants (Mustapic p. 449). Age did not have much effect on the data, which is unsurprising due to the fact that all participants were close in age. What is more surprising, however, is that BMI also had little effect on the data. One would think that women with greater BMIs would

Body image disturbance syndrome is a disorder where one is “unable to see themselves as anything but fat, no matter how thin they become”(Bordo). This leads to one starving themselves or forcing themselves to vomit, known as bulimia. She says that the idea of a beautiful body has come from models and fashion designers, who claim that clothing doesn’t “hang right” on bustier people.

Body dysmorphic disorder or BDD is a type pf mental illness in which you can’t stop thinking about a flaw in your appearance. You intensely obsess over your appearance and body image, often for many hours a day. Your perceived flaw causes you significant distress, and your obsession impacts your ability to function in your daily life. You may seek out numerous cosmetic procedures or excessively exercise to try to "fix" your perceived flaw, but you're never satisfied. Body dysmorphic disorder is also known as dysmorphophobia, the fear of having a deformity.

People now a days have a problem with the way they appear. For hundreds of years, people, especially females, have been concerned with their weight, the way they look, and the way people perceive them. In the article, Do You Have a Body Image Problem? author Dr. Katharine A. Phillips discusses the concerns with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Dr. Phillips uses her knowledge or ethics to discuss the effects that BDD has on people today. She also uses emotion to show the reader how people are seriously affected by this disorder. In Dr. Phillips article, she discusses how people are emotionally and socially affected by the body dysmorphic disorder, and how society is also affected by it.

It's tempting to want to get plastic surgery. It makes those with Body Dysmorphic Disorder feel better about themselves. Plastic Surgery has exploded the last couple decades being a popular trend from people being unsatisfied with their body, with a goal towards perfection. No wonder these modern day popular procedures are being used as a self improver to achieve perfection of one's looks for those with BDD. It may question many, why do people of BDD have the urge of aiming for perfection? The disorder causes them to have obsession with their appearance. They may thrive on a boost to their confidence in their workplace or school. It usually will help them with confidence for a while causing even better outcomes. The issue is it won't be long term confidence assuming surgery goes accordingly, and assuming surgery goes wrong it can cause major disappointment emotionally.

Body Dysmorphia Disorder (BDD) is an imaginary defects in their appearance. This obsession can become debilitating to the point where one cannot leave the house resulting in the loss in occupation or socially. This disorder is often missed as it has close related to Eating Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and sometimes Social Anxiety. People with BDD often start to develop one of the related mental illnesses/ disorders after a time. Due to the nature of this disorder it is often dismissed until BDD becomes debilitating or develops into other relating disorders and mental illnesses. It is becoming more common for a person with BDD to look into getting plastic surgery continuously, which does not relieve the dysmorphic beliefs and thought patterns. Since gathering information it seems that Cognitive Behavior Therapy is the most common and affect use to treat BDD. This disorder is evident primarily in adolescence and peaks middle age.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) has been documented for over 100 years; however, this disorder is still relatively new in comparison to the history of others (e.g. depression). It was first documented in 1891 by an Italian physician named Enrico Morselli under the name dysmorphophobia (Bjornsson, Didie, & Phillips, 2010). Morselli described a dysmorphobic patient as “really miserable; in the middle of his daily routines, conversations, while reading, during meals, in fact everywhere and at any time, is overcome by the fear of deformity…which may reach a very painful intensity, even to the point of weeping and desperation” (Morselli, 1891). This description provides a very basic, though outdated, description of what an individual with BDD may

The superficial quality of physical appearance has been held to a high regard for most of human history. Unfortunately, this focus on external perfection has been the root of many mental illnesses, including Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Body Dysmorphic Disorder is characterized by the obsessive fixation upon a person’s perceived, often nonexistent, physical deformity (“Studies” 1).