Body Dysmophic Disorder

[mark-1]

Hey guys

How many of us forum users suffer from body dysmorphic disorder I wonder? Basically the problem causes us to focus negatively on parts of our appearance which causes a whole batch of stress. I found this list of symptoms online and I, personally, can check off most of them.

• Excessively checking appearance in mirrors or other reflective surfaces
• Constantly comparing appearance to other people
• Picking at or otherwise attempting to fix the perceived flaw, such as through excessive grooming
• Measuring, touching or checking the supposed defect
• Changing clothes frequently
• Refusing to be photographed and destroying existing photographs
• Constantly asking loved ones for reassurance
• Camouflaging, masking or disguising the perceived flaw with heavy make-up, bulky clothing, hats or posture
• Excessively dieting and exercising
• Feeling anxiety and fear when around other people
• Avoiding mirrors or reflective surfaces
• Experiencing suicidal thoughts

I mean if we are stressing enough to spend our precious time on a forum then we are focusing on the issue more than your average hair loss sufferer. There must be a reason.

[stratofortress]

Me. I stress over my admittedly minor crown loss way too much.

[25 going on 65]

Not all, but many BDD symptoms apply to me. I have not been formally diagnosed but I really think I do have the disorder to some extent.

[lilpauly]

mine is real bad. i spenk like 20 k on this f up disease over the last 2 years . braces, steroids and hairloss treamtents

[stratofortress]

mine is real bad. i spenk like 20 k on this f up disease over the last 2 years . braces, steroids and hairloss treamtents

Are you sure you're balding though? It does look as though you're still in NW1 territory?

BDD is not easy to live with at times. With me, it barely affected me before, but hair loss kicked it into over drive.

[lilpauly]

Are you sure you're balding though? It does look as though you're still in NW1 territory?

BDD is not easy to live with at times. With me, it barely affected me before, but hair loss kicked it into over drive.

yes bro, here is the photo from my 2009 hairline.

[NeedHairASAP]

Hey guys

How many of us forum users suffer from body dysmorphic disorder I wonder? Basically the problem causes us to focus negatively on parts of our appearance which causes a whole batch of stress. I found this list of symptoms online and I, personally, can check off most of them.

• Excessively checking appearance in mirrors or other reflective surfaces
• Constantly comparing appearance to other people
• Picking at or otherwise attempting to fix the perceived flaw, such as through excessive grooming
• Measuring, touching or checking the supposed defect
• Changing clothes frequently
• Refusing to be photographed and destroying existing photographs
• Constantly asking loved ones for reassurance
• Camouflaging, masking or disguising the perceived flaw with heavy make-up, bulky clothing, hats or posture
• Excessively dieting and exercising
• Feeling anxiety and fear when around other people
• Avoiding mirrors or reflective surfaces
• Experiencing suicidal thoughts

I mean if we are stressing enough to spend our precious time on a forum then we are focusing on the issue more than your average hair loss sufferer. There must be a reason.

Wow, I experience ever single one of these on a daily basis.

My quality of life has gone from 10 to 0 since my hairloss started being kinda noticeable at 20ish. I'm now 25 and it's very noticeable. I've since lost the drive to do anything.... I can hardly listen to rap music anymore because I feel like a 40 yr old loser who listens to rap music.. but really im 24 and it should feel normal.... I've lost quite a few friends and become estranged from several people..pushed girls away from me because of the insecurity....


hairloss has slowly infiltrated every facet of my life. My life basicially consists of working towards a higher education and good job, as having fun and friends really doesn't appeal to me as I feel like I look sick, old, and ugly...



this is why I've said **** it.. I'm going to Gho... it just sucks I cant just have hair and spend the 12k on something better... like a house, car, or investments..... o well...rather drop 12k then think about killing myself everytime i look in a mirror or anytime somebody asks me to go out to a place where you can't wear hats...

[Pate]

The thing to remember about BDD is that, like most other mental disorders, it's not something you 100% either "have" or "don't have" - it is a spectrum running the whole scale from minor to severe.

Most of us here would have it to some degree, as evidenced by the fact it bothers us enough to post here. Some of us definitely have it worse than others, though.

I've said this before but anybody who is suffering from BDD should read a book called "The Broken Mirror" by Katharine Phillips. It will give you some perspective and help you realise that the main problem is not on your head but inside it.

It will also give you treatment options - I had been taking various antidepressants for years for depression related to my BDD (which was nothing to do with hairloss back then) and nothing had worked. After reading The Broken Mirror I went back to my psychiatrist (who should have known all this stuff anyway, but apparently didn't) and got a script for a very high dose of SSRIs which finally broke the spell it had over me and it was miraculous. I just stopped caring about the BDD and started enjoying life again. High dose SSRIs are prescribed for OCD and BDD is a related disorder, which is why they work for BDD as well.

I don't take them any more because SSRIs can have strong side effects (sleeping and sexual for me) and I don't feel I need them, and I have kind of relapsed at various times (particularly as I started losing hair) but I am strong enough to cope with it now. I would love to not be balding, but BDD is not the defining feature of my life any more.

But seriously - anybody who is suffering from BDD, PLEASE consider trying the treatments in this book because it really helped me a lot.

[VictimOfDHT]

BDD caused me a lot of suffering. I was living in complete isolation and could never enjoy even the simplest things in life (even though I'm not bad looking). Then came my struggle with hair loss and that only made things a million times worse. My life is completely ruined. I never achieved even one of my goals and never reached even one dream. All I think about is what I could've been had I not been cursed with these two things. If I didn't believe suicide was a sin I would've ended my life long time ago. Now, all I can do is sit down and take all the shit that fate has "blessed" me with and hope I don't have a long life (of the same) to live.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

Wow, that's really interesting to hear all of your perspectives and experiences with regards to BDD. I never really suffered from BDD, yet as many of you know, hair loss has totally ruined my life. In fact, hair loss has really been the only physical thing that has hit me like a ton of bricks. I've been overweight at times in my life, yet that never bothered me. I have stretch marks on parts of my body (from power-lifting and getting really big in a short period of time), yet those never really bothered me at all. Being overweight and permanent stretch marks would really be terrible for some people, yet I never really cared. Yet when hair loss came, my life was literally ruined. I often say that I don't ask for many things that other people ask for (a handsome face, a toned body); all I want is my hair back, that's it. I say that to illustrate the fact that all of us are really not asking for a lot in the grand scheme of things when we want our hair back. But it's really interesting to see how many people on here suffer from BDD. Victim Of DHT, Pate, 25 Going on 65, you're all very sensible and intelligent guys (judging by your postings) and I really feel for you guys when it comes to BDD. Oh, and I just checked the warning signs of BDD in Mark-1's posting and guess what: most of those things I never had in my life, yet ever since I started experiencing hair loss, I'm literally experiencing every one of those warning signs. Man, life is just really cruel and unfair.

[SoothSayer]

I have a friend that was diagnosed with BDD about 3 years ago. He had no indication that he was losing any hair whatsoever and even today he looks just the same but he was still anxious about hair loss at the time. From my experience of close friends with the illness, I can say that if you are obsessively checking these forwards then your problem may lie in other places than the hair loss itself. Personally - I am losing hair but it does not bother me significantly so it is possible to live with hair loss and not feel hideous or inferior.

[VictimOfDHT]

Thank you, depressedbyhairloss. BDD is a devastating disorder. To those who don't know about it, it can literally destroy your life, totally. I once read about a girl who couldn't even leave her home -she was living with her mom- for two years because she was horrified of being seen in public. I can't remember what her obsession was but she didn't have physical disabilities or disfigurement... Her mom said sometimes she wouldn't see her for months at a time even though they both were living in the same space. Basically you become excessively preoccupied with whatever part of your body that you see as imperfect/defective that it becomes the only thing you think about and it will only get worse from there until you prefer complete isolation from any social things and you become literally a prisoner of your own mind.

To have BDD is a bad thing. To have BDD and then get hit with hair loss, that's like a knock out. You're done. The thing is therapy won't do much if anything at all. Maybe with very mild cases it will. I have tried in the past and didn't do jack shit. I'm pretty much done and just awaits my fate. But I will NEVER stop my fight against the cancer of hair loss even if I know I'll be living in a cell. NO WAY IN HELL I'm going to look in the mirror and see a bald man in it. Now I'm going to be setting a time for my 6th HT to fill in the thinning temples and hair line YET AGAIN.
I'm resigned to living with BDD but not with baldness.

[lilpauly]

it ruining my ****in life

[John P. Cole, MD]

This is all simply a tragedy. No procedure or medication can make a person comfortable with their appearance. Those with hair loss need to feel improved by surgical intervention. Anything short of this is a failure. No one likes failures so if you cannot anticipate improvement from the prescribed treatment, the optimal option is to do nothing.

[dex89]

LOL I kinda relate to this accept the suicide part. I think the only cure for this is having that "I don't give a ****" attitude. No?