Body Dysmorphic Disease (BDD)

Body Dysmorphic disease (BDD) is a somatoform disorder. Person plagued with the condition have a distorted view of some aspect of their physical appearance. It is what makes an anorexic believe that they are fat—the body image relected back at them in the mirror is incongruent with reality. They do not see what the world sees. And it is a complex disease---potentially fatal depending on the physical obsession. A distorted body image has emotional and physiological consequences on persons outside of the diseased as well ---it can tear families apart. Onlookers can feel the pain of the disorder.

And it occurred to me recently that BDD is pervasive. Many more people suffer from it than are diagnosed. It occurred to me that BDD can take a sub-form. That is why I see so many people walking around the mall and think---did they look in the mirror before they left the house this morning? And if they did what did they think they saw---a good-looking well-dressed svelte person? Because I am pretty sure that if those people saw in the mirror what I routinely see—too tight clothing with fat gobs hanging over their jeans, big 1980’s hair and makeup that would horrify a drag queen---they would never have left the house. Somehow the reflection they see in the mirror is a complete distortion of reality. They think they look awesome. Clearly they too must have BDD.

And some celebrities also suffer from this form of BDD. I suspect Christina Aquilera has it. On The Voice Monday night her dress was so tight even the triple spanx could not contain her girth. And the rolls hanging over her sequin straps on her back looked like Italian sausage tied up with string. The bleach blond hair and caterpillar eyelashes were gruesome. And the boobs?---butts have better cleavage. Her perceived mirror reflection before taking the stage most definitely was distorted. Christina Aquilera looked in the mirror and viewed the perky young 17 year old girl singing Genie In the Bottle that she once was—not a frightful hag.

So just as there is such a thing as healthy tension and healthy competition, I believe that there is such a thing as healthy BDD. Healthy BDD is what keeps people with slightly wide hips from wearing sheaths. It’s what keeps not-so-thunder-thighed women from wearing jeggings.  It keeps me from wearing halter tops without steel reinforced built in support and my mother from wearing sleeveless tank tops.  Healthy BDD enables people to see their flaws in a slightly exaggerated state---and that slightly skewed vision makes the world a prettier place. And pretty isn’t such a bad thing to be. It keeps onlookers from feeling the pain of the disorder.