Body Dysmorphia/Body Shaming!

I don’t know who’s worse the person suffering with Body Dysmorphia or Body Shamers. Body Dysmorphic Disorder also known as BDD is a mental illness involving obsessive focus on a perceived flaw in appearance. The flaw may be minor or imagined. But the person may spend hours a day trying to fix it. The person may try many cosmetic procedures or exercise to excess in an attempt to fix the perceived flaw.

Body shaming is the action or practice of subjecting someone to humiliation and criticism for their physical appearance. Body Shamers are bully’s and play a huge role in BDD. Did you know that individuals with a history of trauma, depression, self-harm, low self-esteem, or borderline personality disorder are more likely to be affected by body shaming and potentially develop an eating disorder or engage in self-harm behavior?

Body Shamers usually have insecurities within so they project onto others to mask their own issues. Like most Bullies, Body Shamers have poor problem solving skills and come from homes where poor parenting styles were demonstrated. They were most likely berated or picked on by a parent. They try to deflect their own issues by belittling others. We see Body Shaming and BDD daily on social media.

In todays society most ppl are solely focused on the their body image for vanity purposes and not health and wellness. When a larger woman embraces her body type by wearing something that greater society has deemed as a smaller framed persons garment she is often said to be “a little too confident.” This is because our perception of beauty has been swayed by the media, social media and our westernized definition of beauty.

I pray this post brings some awareness to those suffering from BDD and to those that are Body Shaming. I’ve been obsessed with my appearance in the past but lately I focus on my health and well being. As a Clinician I understand the pathologies of both and instead of talking about people I focus on talking about creating safer places for people to be healthy without judgment. That’s Jai’s Jewel 💎