Body Dysmorphic Disorder, also known as BDD, is a disorder in which a person has an immense preoccupation with an imagined or exaggerated physical flaw which significantly impacts their life to the point of depression and/or social withdrawal. The most common areas of concern for people with BDD include skin, hair, face, body weight, or size of body parts.
People with BDD are highly likely to suffer from low self-confidence and perceive themselves to be ugly or defective. They may feel reluctant to seek help due to fear of criticism. They are constantly examining the perceived flaw in the mirror and seeking assurance that it is not too obvious or noticeable. They often repeatedly consult medical specialists, such as plastic surgeons or dermatologists, to improve the perceived flaw.
Common Disorders That Often Accompany BDD
Gender identity disorder
Depression
Social phobia
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Hypochondriasis
Treatment of BDD by Talking Therapies and Medications
Often following a series of costly surgical treatments with little satisfaction, an individual finally accepts that their problem is psychological. Talking therapies are humanistic approaches for emotional growth that stress individuals’ capacity for creating, altering, and controlling their emotional states. They place emphasis on the present, on currently held attitudes, painful emotions and maladaptive dysfunctional behaviours known to sabotage a fuller experience of life. Unfortunately, many BDD sufferers have tried various talking therapies such as Counselling, Psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and even medication without any success.
Tina’s Experience Of CBT
Tina suffered from BDD and tried various therapies to treat her condition. In her own words:
‘I have had various talking therapies including two years of CBT and I absolutely hated it. I sobbed during and after each session and begged my GP to stop referring me. I was pushed to do things I just couldn’t do it, not because I didn’t want to but because I had too many traumas being activated at once when having to take certain actions and regressed to them each time that I had to go, against my unconscious survival mechanisms. Walking with the paper that states when and what I needed to do when such and such a situation presents itself was not only useless but very demoralising. I needed help to heal, not to be bullied into facing my phobias and traumas by force. This meant that not only was I hurting constantly due to my mental problems, but I was additionally being harmed by reinforcing how helpless and powerless I felt for not being able to control my mind and to do what the therapist told me to do. For example, to face my phobia using CBT I was taken into the Underground where I would regress to my deeply repressed traumas of being raped in a public place and consequently faint or have a panic attack. It was not only traumatic, but counter-productive to my healing.
When I first saw Natalia, I was terrified to talk, having been traumatised by other talking therapies and therapists, but Natalia was very gentle and understanding and would not push me to do anything. She instead worked on my unconscious mind using her holistic method of mind reprogramming via loving energy, which left me feeling very relaxed and relieved. She ensured me that who I was, was already good and powerful, all that was needed was to heal the mind, which she did. I would never recommend the CBT approach; however, I would highly recommend Natalia’s therapy, if you suffer with anything.’
Hypnotherapy Treatment of BDD
Hypnotherapy (Regressive) is a powerful method to understand the roots of many psychological problems, to abolish bad habits and to create changes in mental processes and behaviours by regressing an individual to the time their problem began. It is often a much more effective tool than talking therapies in helping to overcome mental issues as it addresses the subconscious mind directly.
If the root cause of an issue is unknown, a hypnotic technique known as age regression can be very helpful in identifying the events that set BDD in motion. However, if the root causes for BDD or another disorder are traumatic, I discourage my patients from using Regressive Hypnotherapy and instead offer my S.C. Holistic Therapy approach as this does not require reliving traumas. Given that not everyone is susceptible to hypnosis, and I am able to provide an alternative, I do not recommend hypnotherapy due to its many limits in treating disorders.
S.C. Holistic Therapy for BDD
How I have helped my patients to heal from BDD is by removing the harmful beliefs (attitudes, expectations and personal rules) that form disorders and diseases. For rapid healing it is necessary to reformulate damaging conscious and unconscious beliefs. When the mind is focussed correctly, it naturally stops forming disorders, including BDD. This active-directive process is based on the philosophy that most disorders originate in the mind, for it is the mind which is attached to all our experiences and conditioning.
BDD Case Study
Tony’s BDD symptoms emerged at age 19. He and his sister had been considerably overweight as children and had suffered much teasing. Despite being of average weight for 26 years, he was preoccupied with the size of his waist, thighs and buttocks, which he believed to be too large, and his shoulders and genitals, which he believed too small.
The patient alternated between mirror-checking and mirror-avoidance and had several cosmetic procedures, including rhinoplasty, a chin implant, and cosmetic dentistry, and still desired more. The patient had received exposure plus response prevention therapy, which he regarded as unsuccessful, and had been taking fluoxetine (20 mg per day) which he felt produced significant reductions in his body dysmorphic symptoms, but unfortunately had other adverse side effects. He discontinued his psychotherapy, although he continued to be psychiatrically monitored.
To alleviate his suffering, Tony was referred to me for S.C. Holistic Therapy. Our focus was on the healing of his mind and personality. After treatment, Tony was cured from BDD. He found inner confidence and stopped obsessing about his appearance. As his mind detached from his parents’ harmful criticisms, he found validation in being who he was, as he was, without needing to have his appearance validated by the outside world. As he healed from the trauma of being bullied when suffering from obesity, his mind released him from constant critical noise, and he found safety in being true to himself. He weaned himself off medication without relapsing.