Body Dysmorphic Disorder

People with eating disorders have a distorted body image of themselves. Their food habits revolve around their vision of achieving their ideal body image and for that, sometimes, no matter how much weight they lose, people with eating disorders always view themselves as over weight.

Even though we all worry about our appearance and are concerned about looking good, when it becomes an obsession and we become overly critical of ourselves, there lies a problem.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a fast growing and extremely serious condition. Those suffering from it always remain preoccupied with some or the other aspect of their looks. They have recurring self degrading thoughts about their appearance.

BDD affects one out of every 50 people, most of them teenagers and young adults. Common triggers for BDD are depression, anxiety issues, obsessive compulsive disorder and any sort of eating disorders. However, BDD can be triggered off by extreme emotional reactions to situations too.

Unfortunately, even though BDD is a very widespread disorder, doctors are usually unfamiliar with it and therefore are unable to diagnose it. The feelings of low self worth usually lead the victims to downplay their symptoms. Victims often feel ashamed sharing their problem with their friends and family and are often unable to receive proper help at the right time.

The treatment of BDD is usually common anti depressants. The person suffering from BDD is make to come face to face with their perceived deformity or physical shortcoming. They are given cognitive therapy to prevent them from engaging in behavior that induces discomfort and makes them feel depressed. They are taught how to resist indulging in self destructive and depressive behavior.

The anti depressants are used generally to uplift the mood and distract the person from being too preoccupied with their body. Common anti depressants that are used are Zoloft, luvox, prozac and paxil.