Body Dysmorphic Disorder

It is okay to be a little unhappy with the extra kilos before the year-end party, but you cannot hang yourself for not having the perfect body. Doctors who first started seeing this problem in the west call it the Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). BDD is becoming common in India as well. It is sad that some girls as young as 13 are being diagnosed with BDD.

The percentage of men with this syndrome is considerably less as compared to women. BDD is a kind of disorder where a woman is not happy about the way she looks. For this reason she starts developing inferiority complex and distances herself from friends and family. This can get so severe that woman can go to the extent of contemplating suicide. This can grow into full blown depression.

The get obsessed with any part of their body which they don’t find to be perfect enough. It can be hair, nail, figure nose. The women suffering from BDD are so obsessed that they are ready to go for repeated surgeries. This obsession takes over their lives.

BDD is very common, yet it is unreported, largely because it is unrecognized. Currently only one to two per cent of the general populations is diagnosed with this special disorder, but it is estimated that 1 in every 50 people is suffers from it. Influenced by media the obsession with beauty has fuelled the desire to look perfect at all times.  It is only now that women with this disorder are coming to doctors. Psychotherapy and medication are prescribed for this disorder.