Quote:
Originally Posted by Brittni
I'm really intered in BDD. I think I'll read up on it.
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I think it's important to note here that with many mental illnesses, similar traits can be seen in the general population in a more 'mild' form.
Examples:
- Body Dysmorphic disorder vs anxiety and unhappiness about looks
- Clinical Depression vs feeling a bit low
- OCD vs a tendency to clean a lot and preferring a tidy house
- Eating disorders vs having a slightly 'bad/emotional relationship' with food
The difference is that mental illnesses are defined by being debilitating to your everyday functioning, as though it controls your life, gets in the way of things. They are more extreme forms of the general traits that cause problems for a person.
Body Dysmorphia can include, for example, feeling so unhappy with your body that you feel the only solution is to lose a limb or to treat your acne by scrubbing your face with bleach. It's an illness that can prevent you doing things like leaving the house or seeing friends, for example.
I'm not saying that everyone will suddenly think they have BDD, just pointing out the differences since it's been mentioned in the context of this thread (and i didn't elaborate on it before).
I haven't read loads on BDD, but I do have a background in Psychopathology.
Brittni: I can identify with your statement 'not being skinny enough = not being worthy enough'.
It's a shame that we all still judge ourselves based on what we look like, even though we know that isn't all there is to us.
