Body Dysmorphia

Let’s be honest, at some stage in everybody’s lives we have been critical of our bodies. We’ve all wished a certain body part looked a little different that it actually was. Who hasn’t thought, if I just has a smoother bridge on my nose, a slightly different shaped chin, smaller (or bigger) legs and those less than perfect breasts…. this is all pretty standard and common to critique ourselves this way.    

However Body Dysmorphia is different, it’s about seeing your body in a way that is not real. An example is you truly believe you’re fat, when in fact you are petite, you have a preoccupation or a more disturbing word, obsession with the way in which you want your body to look. You constantly check in the mirror to see what you look like and if you’ve changed in the last few hours, you compare yourself to other. 

We have seen a direct correlation from suffering body dysmorphia into emotional and disordered eating.

• Do you think you suffer from Body Dysmorphia?    
• Are you preoccupied with what you look like?  
• Do you focus on your flaws?  
• Are you the only person that sees yourself this way?  
• Do you frequently touch/grab fat on yourself or on the flaw you perceive? 
• Do you try to hide your flaws?  
• Do you avoid doing thing (or wearing things) because you are so self-conscious?  
• Do you “fix” the issue? (i.e. through exercise, cosmetic surgery, medication, dieting, or other methods)?    
• Have you started counting calories and controlling food?
• Do you over or under eat to effect the way you look?

If you have answered yes to 2 or more of these questions, you are most likely suffering from Body Dysmorphia and may have transferred into Emotional and Disordered Eating.