Body Dysmorphic Disorder - Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental disorder that involves a disturbed body image. BDD is a preoccupation with an imagined physical defect in appearance or a vastly exaggerated concern about a minimal defect. People with body dysmorphic disorder have a distorted or exaggerated view of how they look and are obsessed with actual physical characteristics or perceived flaws, such as a certain facial feature or imperfections of the skin. BDD combines obsessive and compulsive aspects, which links it to the OCD spectrum disorders among psychologists. People with BDD may engage in compulsive mirror checking behaviors or mirror avoidance, typically think about their appearance for more than one hour a day, and in severe cases may drop all social contact and responsibilities as they become homebound. The disorder is linked to an unusually high suicide rate among all mental disorders. Symptoms of BDD is 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. Some sufferers regularly seek confirmation about the supposed flaw from other people and research the area extensively.