Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Aaliyah Mohammed

References

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S. Garnett, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and Men: What to Know and How it Differs. Silver Spring, MD, USA: Anxiety & Depression Association of America, 2022. https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/body-dysmorphic-disorderbdd-and-men-what-know-0

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https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/body-dysmorphic-disorder/symptomscauses/syc-20353938

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Aaliyah Mohammed

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a mental health condition where an individual will worry about their body. The individual perceives and thinks about defects and flaws in their appearance—some that are either minor or do not exist to other people (Mayo Clinic, 2022). But what does that have to do with adolescence and health? Interestingly, and unfortunately, BDD typically begins during adolescence, hence why this keyword is used to associate with that group. As a teen goes through puberty, they experience changes to their appearance and bodies. BDD starts when they obsess about their appearance and become overly critical about it, leading to distress and other severe disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia (Himanshu et al., 2020). BDD impacts each person differently, but the symptoms remain similarly detrimental to the person. BDD can lead to more than an eating disorder, such as obsessive disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disruption, social anxiety with the fear of not wanting to be seen by the public, and academic struggles can arise from BDD (Himanshu et al., 2020). Acknowledging and understanding BDD in adolescence opens opportunities for further studies on how to help them during a crucial time of development. It helps to stress the importance of adolescents "relationships with their bodies, and how they can become mentally disturbed by what they see in the mirror. It challenges us to take other outlets, such as social media, into consideration when it comes to adolescents. This is because of the high impact social media can have on their mental well-being and how they perceive themselves. In a classroom full of adolescents who are going through these physical and mental changes together, it is beneficial to be cautious of how easily they can be influenced by social media and what they perceive to be the standard of beauty. This can also serve as a reminder that adolescence needs time to accept themselves. They can benefit from positive encouragement and acceptance from others and adults as adolescents experience this intense journey of discovering themselves. To learn more about BDD and how it impacts different sexes, an article on Teenage Body Dysmorphic Disorder by Newport Academy discusses how female adolescents are more prone to developing anorexia nervosa. It is another disorder that develops due to BDD because they will never be satisfied with their body image, despite the amount of weight they lose. For males, BDD mainly takes on the form of muscle dysmorphia. Instead of wanting to lose weight, BDD in males concerns them wanting to gain weight in the form of muscles. An article by Emily Hutto (2022) on muscle dysmorphia in males emphasizes that BDD affects them because the males compare themselves to muscular figures they see online and in movies. The males think they are not enough—that their bodies need more, and they become obsessed with gaining more muscles. A YouTube video provides an excellent and brief explanation of the psychology of muscle dysmorphia in males, and the video can be found by clicking on Figure 1.

Figure 1