Body Image Problems

Body Image Problems
It's Monday morning and the ritual has started already. You're taking a shower, but something has caught your eye in the mirror. Did your nose grow overnight? It's always been a honker. But today, it's all over your face. Makeup, you decide, is the solution, so you spend another 45 minutes after your shower experimenting with nose-slimming techniques and blush. Perhaps there's something you can do with your hair to camouflage your nose, you think. On second thought, maybe going to school today isn't such a great idea after all. You're already running late, and people will just stare at your nose all day anyway. If only you could get your parents to spring for plastic surgery . . .
Does that - or something like that - sound familiar? Almost everyone wishes that something about their body was a bit different. This is particularly true for teens whose bodies are going through all sorts of changes caused by puberty. But imagine being totally obsessed with something you felt you had to change. And imagine that the thing you wanted to change wasn't even a big thing, but you couldn't stop thinking about it.
This kind of obsession with a particular body part is called body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Described by Brown University's Katharine Phillips, MD, as the disease of "imagined ugliness," BDD can cause teens to drop out of school, quit their jobs, neglect their social lives, and in the most severe cases, attempt suicide.
Defining Body Dysmorphic Disorder"Thirty to 40% of the population has some kind of dissatisfaction with their bodies," says Carol Watkins, MD, of the Northern County Psychiatric Associates in Baltimore, Maryland. This is especially true for teens whose bodies are changing rapidly. "But BDD occurs when a person gets really preoccupied that there's something wrong with a particular part of the body." BDD occurs in only a small percentage of those teens who experience "normal" dissatisfaction.
Teens with BDD obsess about an imagined or slight defect in appearance. Most often, they focus on what they perceive as a facial flaw, but they can also worry about other body parts, such as short legs or breast size or body shape. Just as teens with eating disorders obsess about their weight, teens with BDD worry about an aspect of their appearance. "[Teens with BDD worry] their hair is thinning, their face is terribly scarred - when in fact they look perfectly fine. And they worry they will be considered superficial or vain if they tell people about their concerns," Dr. Phillips says.
Because few people with BDD are willing to talk about their concerns or seek help, it's hard to know exactly how common BDD is. Dr. Phillips believes that as many as one in 50 people, mainly women in their 30s, may have the disorder. Other researchers believe the number of people with BDD is even less. And BDD also affects teens - about 70% of cases begin before age 18.