BDDHELP - Did You Know?

Many doctors who study BDD believe that plastic surgeons come into contact much more often with BDD patients than do therapists of psychiatrists.

The portion of the brain responsible for OCD functions is very much on the same emotional level as that of a two-year old. Trying to reason with either in the throes of a tantrum is senseless.

According to a recent survey, 33 per cent of plastic surgeons said the number one reason for turning patients away was owing to their unrealistic expectations, and the belief that the surgical procedure would solve all their problems.

Most people say that they would not want anyone to know if they developed a mental illness.

You inherit physical characteristics from your parents and can pass them on in the same way. It's possible that your genes can also affect your personality.

Attempts at reassurance inspire the brain to automatically scan for any possible exceptions.

You are always more than your feelings. At most they indicate to you where you need to grow.

There are genes that cause physical illnesses, so there may be genes that predispose a person towards mental illness. There is some scientific evidence to support the idea that one person may be more likely than another to develop a particular problem, such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

These days we are much more 'self-focused'. The idea of considering the wider community to be more important than the self is almost impossible to understand for most people, this can lead to much conflict inside.

Feelings that are held back, and which are not expressed, affect your physical and mental health.

People suffering from mental illness often do not recognize them for what they are. About 27 percent of those who seek medical care for physical problems actually suffer from troubled emotions.

Your patterns of relating and interacting with yourself produce a negative body image. You create your own conditioning. Although the seeds of body image distress may have been planted in your cultural and interpersonal history, a negative body image exists and grows in the prescence of your mind.

Low self-esteem is actually a thinking disorder in which an individual views him/herself as inadequate, unworthy, unlovable, and/or incompetent. Once formed, this negative view of self permeates every thought, producing faulty assumptions and ongoing self-defeating behaviour.

70% people with mental health problems have been put off applying for jobs fearing unfair treatment.

Remember this scientifically established truth. Physically attractive people are not necessarily happier than less attractive people. Good-looking individuals have their insecurities too.

The media and the huge (appearance industry), certainly make it difficult to accept your body, but difficult isn't the same as impossible. They are indeed a brainwashing force to be reckoned with, but they are not loading a gun at you and commanding you to believe and do everything they say, or else! What you believe and what you do is entirely up to you. Think about it.

Researchers showed 25 people with BDD and half without the disorder, three different images of faces in high, regular, and low resolution. MRI results showed that participants with BDD used the left side of their brains, the analytical side, to process all three images. The other participants used their brains left hemispheres for only the high-resolution images. This could mean the minds of people with BDD strive to acutely process visual details, even when there aren't any to process. This might be why they can see flaws in themselves, even when those flaws may not exist.

It is good to talk about mental illness. Sharing stories helps people to not be ashamed of their illness.

An accurate definition of the self is impossible. You are more than you realize, more than you can define. And the more time you spend trying to nail down the definition, the less time you spend living right now... Your past is not your identity... You, living now, is your identity.

Women tend to have a lower body image during the pre-menstrual phase of their cycle.

Interestingly, in regards to appearance, studies have shown that gay men are less happy and lesbians more happy than their sexual counterparts. This may be likely because of the focus on appearance that is prevalent in the gay culture.

Unlike human's and many great apes (chimps, gorillas) animals do not perceive their reflections as an image of themselves, but as another animal of their kind. When given a mirror, great apes will groom themselves in a similar way to us.

People engaged in activities that encourage them to contribute, make important decisions, solve problems, have an opinion, set goals and make choices, are more likely to exhibit increased levels of self-esteem.

Without treatment the consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, suicide and wasted lives; The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than 100 billion dollars each year in the United States alone.

In the media, all we see is the end result. The media celebrates perfection with airbrushes, lighting and camera angles. All of us have imperfections but the print and video campaigns have 'toys' that disguise the realness of the model.

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities, and an optimist is one who makes opportunties of his difficulties.

Beauty magazines are printed for one reason only and that reason is, profit margin!

Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.

It is a fact that people mirror back to us those deeply held feelings and images that we have about ourselves. The wise old scholar Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best when he remarked: "What you are speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say."

BDD patients, tend to grade others as being more attractive than an objective observer would and themselves as being less attractive.

Researchers generating a computer model of a woman with Barbie-doll proportions, for example, found that her back would be too weak to support the weight of her upper body, and her body would be too narrow to contain more than half a liver and a few centimeters of bowel. A real woman built that way would suffer from chronic diarrhea and eventually die from malnutrition.

Every good thought you have is contributing its share to the ultimate result of your life.

You cannot improve someone else's self-esteem. What you can do is create the conditions that enable another to achieve a healthy level of self-esteem.

Stigma erodes confidence that mental disorders are real, treatable health conditions. We have allowed stigma and a now unwarranted sense of hopelessness to erect attitudinal, structural and financial barriers to effective treatment and recovery. It is time to take these barriers down.

Compulsive exercising is a disorder and exercising too much can have serious physical and emotional effects.

The two sides of anyones face are never symmetrical.

If we lose affection and kindliness from our life, we lose all that gives us charm.

In 1920, women attained the right to vote. This was also the first year of the Miss America Pageant.

Wide hips and bums were once so prized that women hid their unfashionably slim hips beneath bustles.

We are more often frightened than hurt, and suffer more from imagination than from reality.

Since we discover the world through our bodies, it is thought the Body Dysmorphia is a primitive way of expressing anxiety.

Excessive preoccupation and an unusual fixation on positive body image is sometimes associated with narcissism and vanity.

Body image is only a perception! It is what a persons body looks like to them, what they think they look like to others, and what that means to them. It can be changed.

Research in Canada and the UK suggests that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to dislike your body.

Experts think there is more pressure on the wealthy to achieve the thin ideal because they have the money to do so and are more exposed to media imagery. Europe has much higher levels of body image dissatisfaction than less developed countries.

It is thought BDD affects about two percent of the population although the reality is probably much more.

Man's self-concept is enhanced when he takes responsibility for himself.

BDD strikes males and females equally, usually before age eighteen (70% of the time).

A recent study of people who suffer from Body Dysmorphic Disorder suggests they are more likely to have an education or occupation in art and design.

Body image is influenced by standards set by society and the culture that surrounds us. As well as our family and individual experiences.

Women naturally carry weight on their hips and thighs. It is VITAL for fertility, prevention of osteoporosis, healthy skin, eyes, hair, and teeth.

In Fiji, larger women are traditionally preferred; But after Western television arrived, symptons of eating disorders among teen girls incresed by 500%.

Many of todays's models, actresses, and beauty contestants meet the weight criteria for anorexia.

Failure isn't failing at the project at hand. Failure is giving up on yourself.

In one U.S. National survey, women feared being fat more than dying.

Nose and earlobe surgery to alter appearance has been recorded as early as 600 BC in India.

If Barbie were a real woman, she would have to grow to be seven feet tall. She would have a bust that was between 38-40 inches, her waist 18-24 inches, her hips around 33-35 inches. Barbie's weight would be 110 pounds. If she were a real woman, Barbie would have to walk on all fours due to her proportions. If Ken were a real man, he would be seven-feet, eight-inches tall. An average man would have to add seven inches to his chest and about eight inches to his neck to equal Ken's measurements.

People with mental illness are more likely than other people to be the victims of violence.

Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it.

Male action figures (GI Joe, etc.) have greatly increased in muscular size since 1973; If GI Joe were human, he would have larger biceps than any bodybuilder in history.

If a woman had the same measurements as a mannequin, she wouldn't have enough body fat to menstruate.

The world is such and such or so and so a place because we tell ourselves that that is the way it is.

The diet industry (diet foods, diet programs, diet drugs, ect) takes in over $40 billion each year and continues to grow.

More than 1 in 10 people are likely to have a 'disabling anxiety disorder' at some stage in their life.

1/2 of BDD sufferers have NO insight into their disorder.

People with BDD often have unbalanced amounts of serotonin, and need medication to help them level off.