I’m a 26 year old guy that had a hair transplant a year ago. I had what is called temporal triangular alopecia which is a bald spot since birth. I had only started focusing on that bald spot heavily around age 21-22, that’s what led me to eventually get a hair transplant for it. It wasn’t a failed procedure, it wasn’t botched at all but overtime I couldn’t stop focusing on it and feeling like something is wrong.
 
Originally all I wanted was hair in an area that I never had it but I never thought about how the hair would be different in comparison to my native hair. This led me to now focus and worry about other things that I never considered before. I started to compare the difference in hairs, thinking of how it may appear long term if I lose hair on other areas of my head when transplanted hair remains, how it’s not natural even while knowing natural was never a possibility, how I perceive things as asymmetrical. My mind cant accept it for what it is and just be satisfied with what I have, just keeps looping back to something being wrong. 

I believe I could have some sort of body dysmorphia based on patterns but not entirely sure. For a little over a month I’ve been experiencing a deep sadness that comes and goes but it’s at its worst when I wake each day and unlike anything I’ve felt before. This breakdown started right after I had given myself a haircut and shaved down the transplanted area, getting a different view of it. I have no thought to actually carry out harming myself currently but definitely have increased thoughts of just no longer wanting to live this life. 

I haven’t been diagnosed but I believe this is a form of depression that stems from my appearance and constantly seeing something that can’t be changed. I will also mention that at the beginning of the year I was microdosing accutane for my skin but unsure if that would trigger the bad mental state I have currently so I did stop taking it for the past 3 weeks as well.

I have met with a psychiatrist recently and was prescribed 25mg zoloft which I was only taking for two weeks but I stopped it the last two days. What scares me from taking this new medication is having to live a life depending on it, possibly permanent side effects (pssd) as I’ve already experienced low libido, and not going through therapy to work through why I think the way that I do before going the medication route. 

I just dont want to make things worse or wreck myself long term by making bad decisions in the moment. Just curious if anyone has ever dealt with anything similar and can maybe give an idea on how I should approach things. 

What I have done to cope on my own is note down things that would somewhat make me feel better for short moments. A few of those are:

- Telling myself that nothing in this life matters much from a spiritual view
- Seeing the perspective of those that faced similar situations or were dealt worse
- Constant reminder that I came into the world with imperfections and can never achieve perfection

I appreciate anyone that gave this a full read and can offer some help. Thank you.

My girlfriend’s BDD and obsession with her nose are slowly ruining our relationship. No matter how much I reassure her, she can’t stop fixating on it, and it affects both her happiness and our relationship. It’s painful watching someone you love suffer, but it’s also exhausting when this obsession starts taking over your life together. I love her, and I want to support her, but I’m struggling with how much this is affecting us. I feel helpless because nothing I say seems to make things better. Has anyone else experienced something similar in a relationship?

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

Ive been tracking my mood swings and my feelings since ive been diagnosed bpd heres what i realized

My mood swings heavily depends on how i feel about my face good hair? temporary less puffy face? im good and happy and it reflects on my surroundings and it goes the opposite if anything feels off or odd

My chronic emptiness i believes stem from my markedly lack of self-esteem i cant see any purpose in life i i feel outcast i feel numb

Although my best friend ( fp) triggers me i believe it can be from being imagined that im being treated in certain way due to how i look which always lead to instability our relationship almost reached bloody fight

suicide ideation due to how i look again

Being always freaking paranoid for alot of reasons so this one is excluded

i split on someone for a year and iam still for calling me ugly out of rage and hes now in love w me but i cannt feel empathy towards me no matter how they treat me good

my white and black thinking is one assigned to one person ( which the one i mentioned above all-bad part) and the other ( my fp) which is all-good part simply because hes always on pedestal thats does not mean i dont split on him but it doesn’t last for long my love outweighs the negative thoughts after hours or a day

And my fear of abandonment perhaps comes from “what ifs “ like hes leaving me because how i look what if he leaves when he perceives me like i do to myself?

Impulsivity i think its tied to my low self esteem which goes me back to feel something other than being attractive is the only thing to live for

can both coexist? or am I being misdiagnosed

I’m an 18-year-old guy struggling with my self-image. My brown skin, prominent front teeth, and smaller lips make me feel unattractive. Seeing my fair-skinned friends get attention from girls while I feel ignored and alone hurts deeply. I constantly compare myself to others and wonder why I can’t feel confident in my own skin. Sometimes I start accepting myself, but a single hurtful comment brings back all my insecurities. I just want to feel comfortable with myself and stop believing that my appearance makes me less worthy than others.

Because of my BDD, I can't make eye contact with people. I can barely even look my dad in the eyes. My mom is the only person I can make eye contact with.

Whenever I go outside, I always cover my face. But I want to be able to go out without covering my face and without constantly worrying about how my face looks or feeling anxious about it. How can I get to that point?

Has anyone been through something similar and gotten better? If so, could you please share what helped you? Thank you!

Anyone else when looking in mirror think they look okay/good when looking from afar?? Like when I see myself fro at least like 7 feet plus back I feel like I look good because there’s this sort of lack of detail that your brain maybe feels in, where from afar it’s almost like my face kinda understands it could/should look good but then the closer you get it’s like all the errors and flaws become visible and then I just go “ahhh that’s why I’m unattractive”

For more than a month now, I’ve been spiraling over how I look. For a couple of years I believed I was pretty. Because people would tell me so.
But since this year I’ve gotten not so overly positive comments on my appearance. I’ve been told I’m more average looking and I wouldn’t turn heads.

I have full cheeks, softer facial features, wear glasses and my forehead is a lil bit too broad. I have wide hips, but no tits. I am very baby faced and will probably still look 20 at the age of 40. As a 27 year old, this is not a good thing.

Recent online comments made me so insecure I began buying makeup, in hopes it would make me feel better about how I look. But I still feel just as bad.

Can you guys relate and can you offer any advice?

Whenever I do things to improve my life, my own family makes fun of me and insinuates that it's worthless

When I used to go to the gym, they would make fun of me trying to stay on a proper diet and have a routine. They told me "you're not a model to be worrying so much about your appearance"

Now I'm so embarrassed to do anything. I wanna start working out again, buy new clothes, try to be my best version, etc. But I'm worried of what they will say to me, especially when we get into a discussion, that's when they become really cruel.

What should I do about this?

I don’t know if anybody has ever felt this but I feel like I look like all my selfies I take when I look in the mirror but as soon as somebody else takes a pic of me I feel like I even don’t recognize myself. I only have very few photos people have taken that I feel I look like myself, is it possible I’m just being done dirty with bad angles and lighting? I ask my friends and family if I look like my instagram and they say I do but I can’t tell if they’re just being nice.

I’ve felt unrecognizable in pics especially taken by an older generation or like off guard. Am I going crazy?

I have always heard it’s closer to how you actually look than the front. I hate how I look in the front camera and hell even the mirror but it’s even worse on the back, my face looks wide and fat, My eyes look small and beady and I’m extremly asymmetrical. Like I very much look objectively ugly, I think anyone would say the same. I had a whole episode and broke down early today because I wanted to test how I looked in the back camera. Now I’m just lost and upset, I already had no idea what I look like. I keep crying anytime I think about that photo.

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

Before weed I am looking on mirror and feel oh good I look good than when I smoke weed I felt looking at mirror and eww who is this ugliest person in the world idk it's weed showing me that it's that's how i look

How to cope and enjoy

I (f22) look in the mirror and my face looks different everyday, I’m unable to turn my head a certain way because I hate that angle of my nose, and I feel so shallow when I tell myself that prettier people have better lives and have everything handed to them. From what I’ve experienced, people usually consider me attractive, and yet I want to scream at them about how they’re a liar.

I’m in a relationship with my dream guy and all I can think about is his ex, what she looked like, and how I can be better. I’m obsessed with it. It’s affecting us so badly because I start to pull away in fear that he realises I’m not as attractive as her. I start to crave everything she has and I almost want to mimic it, because I knew he was obsessed with her and whilst he is with me also, I just want to be better.

I have such ambitions in life - I get good grades, have nice friends, a family - and yet this is consuming me. I hate every single photo of myself, and I spend hours obsessively editing/looking at photos to the point I don’t eat, sleep, or use the bathroom. I’m left feeling empty rather than beautiful.

Please tell me how I can fix this. I’ve tried deleting social media but I just redownload it again. I’ve tried meditating but simply seeing myself in a mirror triggers me so badly. I can’t tell anyone, especially not my boyfriend, and my family doesn’t believe in therapy. Any tips or advice is immensely appreciated :)

Adding a trigger warning for self-harm, and also marking this post NSFW as I don't want to trigger anyone else

When I have BDD spirals, I feel so angry that I want to self harm and obsess over harming myself. It is pretty much the exact same thought process as when you're angry at someone and imagine slapping them except for me its much worse than just slapping since I feel a lot of anger/hatred. I already self harm in various methods, but I fear permanent marks are going to make me look even worse, however rhere are no other ways of satisfying this feeling of wanting to harm the thing making me miserable everyday (my body). I have tried to ignore the feeling, but it does not help, it makes things worse because they just add up until I explode. I have moved to inducing inconveniences, sleeping in uncomfortable positions that make my muscles hurt afterward, uncomfortable clothes digging into my skin, very hot or very cold showers, starvation, lack of sleep. These methods have not been able to replace my urge of self harm, instead they made it even worse, now I am self harming more than ever. I don't know what to do to cure my urge. Any advice is appreciated, as I feel like I am actually going insane.

My mental health has been pretty bad lately, body dysmorphia and ocd have been acting up, and I was wondering if anyone here has had positive experiences with therapy in regard to body dysmorphia. Mine tends to come and go, so it’s not something that I have addressed in the way that it probably does. But I would like to address it. Also, if you have gone to therapy for it, does it help if it’s specialized? I’m seeing a therapist that works at my school, so if I could just talk to her about this it would be really convenient but I’m not opposed to going to a specialist if need be.

I am 5'5 and weighs 115 pounds appx.

I hate how my body looks even though i know its literally normal but i have an ideal body on my mind and its destroying me i dont know what i have become.

I used to work extremely hard to get abs. did core workouts and cardios non stop. it didn't work much for me so switched to running. Adapted it so fast and started running 6-7 km a day. Noticed that its not doing what i want out of it so stopped after 2 months.

Did everything i could do to achieve taht ideal body but now that i am sitting here remembering all the hardwork i did it haunts me. i feel like puking cause i am doing myself no good. I know i shouldn't be focusing on my body this much but can't help it.

its been 3 days ive been starving myself cause now just by looking at food i feel like puking.

day 1- salad and strong coffee

day 2- yogurt and strong coffee

day 3-apple banana and strong coffee

day 4- today( i am planning to eat nth)

i know this might sound absolutely ridiculous but yes this is wht is actually going on with me.

Help me.

i am 21 years old and i spent almost my entire life hating the way that i looked. by the age of 5 i was worried about being too fat, and i was a borderline underweight child so my perspective has been very warped since… always

at 13, my body dysmorphia had gotten so bad that i went almost a year without seeing my reflection, outside of accidents or short glances in my 2 safe mirrors where i didn’t mind the lighting

i truly have no idea what i looked like back then, and i don’t even have any photos to look back on because i refused to be in any. nowadays, it makes me sad to think i essentially erased such a long period of myself, even in my own memory. it took a long while to train myself out of the mirror-avoidance habit

for years, i fell asleep every night praying to wake up as someone else. BDD drove me into such a deep, relentless depression that i started thinking there was no point in living if i was really that ugly. then, at 16 i developed anorexia which probably almost did kill me and still haunts me a little to this day (ugh)

long story short, it was DARK. the worst part was, i was fully convinced i’d feel this way forever. i thought i was a lost cause- but now, the idea of feeling that way is completely alien to me!!

i’m constantly struck with the realisation that 13 year old me would NEVER believe how happy i am with my appearance now, how i can do all the things i deemed impossible: casually taking + posting photos, looking in the mirror, any mirror, whenever i want and being happy with my reflection, finding bad pictures funny instead of soul destroying

i’ve dated many people, i have many friends, but the craziest change for me is- i genuinely think i’m attractive. on a baseline level, that’s how i feel about my appearance and i rarely ever doubt it

i wish i could give better advice about how i got to this point, but it was a long journey and a huge mixture of things

having good friends and actually going out into the world regularly was definitely a large part of it. it made me realise that people just look like people, and social media standards really are just on social media. the more good things and good people you have in your life, the less time you have to hate yourself

it was also a sort of defeat- after trying every possible way to change my features to no avail, i had to give up. i realised that this is my face, i can’t change it, so i might as well try to like it while i’m young and alive

the most specific turning point i remember happened in the midst of a panic attack i was having over a bad photo. i was 15 and sobbing on my bathroom floor, consumed with hatred for the person i saw in the picture, the mirror, the person i was

then, i suddenly had this weird, borderline out-of-body experience. for a moment, it was like i was a stranger standing in that same bathroom, watching this really sad teenage girl poke at her face in the mirror as she sobbed and hyperventilated

i think i snapped out of it in that moment- i just felt so BAD. i realised i’d wasted my entire life treating myself horribly, and was overcome with a new sense of empathy for myself i guess? i actually apologised to myself out loud over and over as i cried lol

obviously, seeing as i am writing this six years later, it took a while to fully break out of it and it certainly wasn’t a linear journey. but, it was then that i decided i refused to live like this anymore, and started trying to change

nonetheless- bit of a ramble, but i often wish i could’ve told my past self that it can go away and it will be better. it’s not forever; you can escape it!!

my mom has always been so hyperfixated on weight and appearance while also simultaneously dressing my brother in sizes too big for us. she did it because she thought since we were born in america, we would have a better opportunity of being taller, muscular, and or busty. it was her way of having us save money because we “could” eventually grow into the clothes. it was a shame if we couldn’t and it would be disappointing if we did because she was always ridiculing something.

it’s ruined my perception of how i should dress and i feel like i don’t even know what fits and how it should fit. i have this horrible habit of splurging on merch from my fav artists but then feeling like it’s not fitting okay and then splurging on SCALPER’S prices because i don’t want to feel insecure when i rep my fav artist.

i’m trying to talk myself out of buying a sweatshirt i already have in a bigger size but i’m struggling. i keep reminding myself that if the attire isn’t tight, suffocating, and still comfortable to be worn then that’s all that matter. i’ve even deleted a bunch of apps so i wouldn’t compare myself to people wearing the same thing and seeing how it fits on them but i still catch myself making the comparison. does anyone have a more proactive way of beating this?

I'm a black girl so I guess that already makes me ugly, I have a big nose, scars,dark under eyes, my lips are too big, honestly everything from looks to personality I don't like. I don't even look feminine. I look like a boy and I hate it. I hate myself so much that I'll black myself out of the picture or just delete everything all together. I have no photos of my middle school or elementary years and I've even started skipping picture day at school, I'm tired of being sad every day how do I get better? (I'm already on meds and starting therapy next month)

I dont know if anyone else can relate, but before I go to the gym I will literally spend hours dreading it and analyzing my appearance in the mirror, fixing my makeup and hair. The gym feels like a cesspit of judgement and stares, its especially bad because my all of my old classmates go too. I cant stop going tho tho, ive been going for 3 years and dont want to lose my muscle its just so difficult to actually get there and go in :(

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

How am I (25m) supposed to accept or come to terms with it? It makes me feel so disgusted and I hate how small I look. I look completely different in my head in height and physical features but the moment I see myself in a mirror or in photos it’s just a whole different person and I hate it.

The worse part is, is that this is real. It’s my reality and every time I stand on my toes and look in the mirror or look around from a taller perspective I feel such a serious sense of relief… it’s so humiliating to state this but it’s the only thing that brings me comfort and I don’t want to have to use platforms or height boosters because I want it to be naturally who I am.

I don’t know how to navigate this, how to get better, I just wish I could be the way I see myself/envision who I am in my mind rather than trapped in a body I’m disgusted with and loathe.

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

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