Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a serious illness when
a person is preoccupied with minor or imaginary physical flaws, usually of the
skin, hair, and nose. A person with BDD tends to have cosmetic surgery, and even if the
surgeries are successful, does not think they are and is unhappy with the
outcomes.
What are the symptoms of BDD?
Being preoccupied with minor or imaginary physical flaws, usually of the skin, hair, and nose, such as acne, scarring, facial lines, marks, pale skin, thinning hair, excessive body hair, large nose, or crooked nose.
Having a lot of anxiety and stress about the perceived flaw and spending a lot of time focusing on it, such as frequently picking at skin, excessively checking appearance in a mirror, hiding the imperfection, comparing appearance with others, excessively grooming, seeking reassurance from others about how they look, and getting cosmetic surgery.
Getting cosmetic surgery can make BDD worse. They are often not happy with the outcome of the surgery. If they are, they may start to focus attention on another body area and become preoccupied trying to fix the new "defect." In this case, some patients with BDD become angry at the surgeon for making their appearance worse and may even become violent towards the surgeon.
Cognitive behavioral
therapy. This is a type of therapy with several steps:
The therapist asks the patient to enter social situations without
covering up her "defect."
The therapist helps the patient stop doing the compulsive behaviors to check the defect or cover it up. This may include removing mirrors, covering skin areas that the patient picks, or not using make-up.
The therapist helps the patient change their false beliefs about
their appearance.
Source: The National Women's Health Information Center
Stress occurs when forces from the outside world impinge on the individual. Stress is a normal part of life. However, over-stress, can be harmful. There is now speculation, as well as some evidence, that points to the abnormal stress responses as being involved in causing various diseases or conditions.
Psychotic disorders are a group of serious illnesses that affect the mind. Different types of psychotic disorders include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, shared psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, substance-induced psychotic disorder, paraphrenia, and psychotic disorders due to medical conditions.
Mental illness is any disease or condition affecting the brain that influence the way a person thinks, feels, behaves, and/or relates to others. Mental illness is caused by heredity, biology, psychological trauma and environmental stressors.
Symptoms of a psychotic disorder vary from person to person and may change over time. The major
symptoms are hallucinations and delusions.
Hallucinations are unusual sensory experiences or perceptions of things that
aren't actually present, such as seeing things that aren't there, hearing
voices, smelling odors, having a "funny" taste in your mouth, and feeling
sensations on your skin even though nothing is touching your body.
Delusions are false beliefs that are persistent and organized, and that do
not go away after receiving logical or accurate information. For example, a
person who is certain his or her food is poisoned, even if it has been proven
that the food is fine, is suffering from a delusion.
Other possible symptoms of psychotic illnesses include:
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