James Donaldson on Mental Health - What Is Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

Getting help for BDD Providing a countermeasure to that focus on beauty is important.

In addition to anti-anxiety medication , which is typically prescribed because of the severity of the symptoms experienced by people with BDD, treatment begins by trying to introduce a broader perspective on what it means to be an attractive, worthy person .

“It’s about getting them to be more flexible with their thinking,” explains Dr.

“Maybe there’s more to attraction than flaws.

And everyone has a range of attraction.

Attraction can be physical, and it can also be emotional, or about connectedness.” Treatment helps kids test out the theory.

People with BDD have a lot of strategies for concealing their perceived flaws, and the therapist will help slowly peel those strategies back.

Maybe they’ll practice walking outside at a time that is usually avoided, or the patient will try wearing cover-up for just part of the appointment, and he’ll see if there’s a difference in how people look at him.

It’s a gradual, supportive process designed to help people learn to tolerate the anxiety they feel until it lessens and they find they are able to handle still more challenging things.

The treatment is called exposure with response prevention , and is successful for treating body dysmorphic disorder.