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A large proportion of people with BDD may end up seeking cosmetic surgery or dermatological treatment, fuelling perceptions that BDD is in some way vain or narcissistic. People with BDD believe themselves to be ugly, disgusting or defective. Someone with a diagnosis of BDD would never be someone who enjoys long periods indulging themselves in front of the mirror. They can often believe their 'defects' are so obnoxious and real that they need to seek surgery. They believe what they see in the mirror is true and that others feel disgusted by them in the same way that they do. People may see imagined spots or acne, or a nose that is bulbous, unsymmetrical and disproportionate to their face (for a detailed list, look at common areas for preoccupation). The anxiety can be too hard to bear and believing what they see in the mirror can make cosmetic surgery seem the only course of action(see our Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) pages). It is a common misconception that the way someone with BDD perceives their physical features, is the cause of their anxiety and negative beliefs. On the contrary, it is the anxiety and negative beliefs someone holds about themselves, that provokes the person's obsession with their physical features. The way a person with BDD sees the way they look is distorted. It is therefore futile to try to convince someone with BDD that they do not need surgery because they are not ugly or 'defective'. It is therefore more useful to engage the person with BDD in a conversation about being unwell and that surgery could be irresponsible at this time, rather than discussing their symptoms i.e. the way they think they look. |
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