M I D L I F E C Y C L I S T
The Truth Behind BDD
Rachel Ann Cullen
I
t’s like the deafening stampede of migrating Wildebeest thundering through all rational, logical thought, trampling them into the dust which is then kicked up into a confused, whirling smog. Nothing is clear. Logic and rational thought have now gone. They have been reduced to a vague memory – a notion of a thought process that was once familiar, but is now entirely absent. And what’s worse is that it all sounds so… futile. So self-absorbed. So filled with sad, egotistical / narcissistic entirely pointless worries which, to any sane person would sound… pathetic. Yes, that. Pathetic.
THIS IS BODY DYSMORPHIA ‘Oh, my God. My hair. It’s too thin / flyaway / flat / greasy / itchy / [fill in the blanks…]’ ‘My face. The skin. It’s oily / shiny / spotty / blemished / red / [fill in the blanks…] ‘My nose. It’s too big / small / fat / squashed / bent / hooked / crooked [fill in the blanks…] ‘My tummy. It’s too fat / spongy / saggy / chubby / round / [fill in the blanks…]
THIS IS BODY DYSMORPHIA. But it’s so much more than that. It’s so much darker than the fleeting, momentary worries and insecurities which every woman has about whether this IS a genuine “BHD” (bad hair day), or whether those new jeans are, in fact, simply an unflattering fit. Body Dysmorphia is unrelenting in its cruelty and its devastating impact. Masquerading as a person who is simply ‘insecure’ or ‘obsessional’ over their appearance. Somebody with ‘not enough to think about.’ As though a BDD sufferer didn’t have enough to contend with, this is the additional burden of the condition – a notion that this is simply a person who is self-absorbed and who should make better choices... www.thefrankmagazine.com
