Treatment
Psychoanalysis
Medications
CBT & E&R Prevention
NLP
Insider Techniques
Advice for Friends/Partners

Insider Tips

Next

This is a list that will be continually updated with insider tips for battling your BDD. These techniques may not be a cure to BDD, but have been proven to alleviate symptoms and bring about a significant decrease in all negative aspects of BDD! If you'd like to submit a tip that's helped you battle BDD, please email it to: brit@bddcentral.com.

Do not get plastic surgery!

Yes, you heard it! People with BDD tend to think that their imagined deformity is real. You must remember, to be diagnosed with BDD, your imagined defect doesn't exist! I highly recommend you do not get plastic surgery, or even go to a consultation. Most people with BDD will have a difficult time dealing with the judgment that a plastic surgeon will make, as BDDers accept all outside opinions as truth. I have heard of stories of BDD victims getting plastic surgery and being satisfied, but their obsessions just moved on to other features. But most BDDers aren't satisfied with the results at all, feeling that their imagined problem is not perfect, and I have heard several cases where they have become even more preoccupied with their imagined deformity and continued to receive more and more surgery until they were broke, anxious, suicidal, and more depressed than ever! So if you have the idea in your mind that surgery will answer all of your problems, think again. Don't do it!

Get angry and be assertive

Most people with BDD have had little to no experience with releasing anger. Often, they'll let little things build up over time, never expressing any dissatisfaction, until one day, they just explode! I suggest, you learn to release anger, which can be done in several ways. First off, instead of being passive aggressive, try to become more assertive, letting people know what bothers you while it's still an issue, instead of ruminating over slight annoyances for months to come. Second, physically release anger as well. This is not recommended to do on an everyday occasion, but it should be done often enough to bring you relief. Take a pillow and hit it against a bed. Punch the pillow! Scream! Kick a wall. Get a slam man and beat it up. I cannot begin to tell you how much better I feel after releasing all these horrible, toxic feelings I harbor inside. I think many of us BDDers have no idea what anger really is, and if we can't recognize it, we don't realize that we need to get rid of it! We need to learn to recognize our feelings! Additionally, it's a good idea to cry as well. Express emotions as you feel them, and set up a time to express emotions that you still need to release from previous occasions. This will bring such a relief and eradicate anxiety, tension, and sometimes, even physical pain! Also, if we are more assertive, it makes us less prone to gossip, accepting jobs that we don't want to do, and finally, by expressing all of our emotions, we can feel alive, and truly experience the good emotions as well as the bad!

Create a Project

This technique has helped me more than probably all others. What I highly recommend, is that you find an enjoyable hobby that interests you, and transfer your BDD behaviors and beliefs onto that project! It is incredible how well this works, and it's much easier to beat up on your project than to beat up on your actual being! The key here is to find something that is so detailed and so time consuming, that you will never have the chance to worry about your appearance. Additionally, you must have pretty strong will power to resist the initial urge to abandon the project and perform BDD rituals again. I think the best way to illustrate this recommendation is to give an example. I personally like art and computers, so what I've done, is created a computer game. Since few people make games at home, I had no outside sources to judge me. Since a computer game usually takes several people to make, I had plenty of work on my hands to keep me busy! Every task that I did could be perfected, so I could always find little mistakes here and there to fix up. Do you see a pattern forming here? This is just like our coping mechanism that we call BDD! To top things off, when you complete such a project, it gives you a huge rush of self-esteem and more motivation to do even bigger, greater things! Our character traits brought about by BDD can actually be beneficial here, bringing out very high quality products to other people, be it writing, art, crafts, or anything else you can imagine! The only down side to this recommendation is that you're avoiding the real issue at hand. BDD is a coping mechanism that is trying to keep you from a greater, underlying problem. For many of us, this problem is too painful to face, and may be too painful for a very long time to come. So, if you'd like to create a new coping mechanism to take place of BDD, which can also bring some great original things into the world, I highly recommend you get involved in a huge, time consuming project, as it will help you cope, bring about change and hope, alleviate depression, and allow you to lead a more enjoyable, productive life! Sounds pretty good, huh?

Sleep

This one is simple. Sleep. The more tired you are, the worse your BDD and negative self-talk will be. Don't ask me why--perhaps it has to do with brain chemistry on no sleep, or maybe our rationality sinks to the level of a preschooler when we're tired. Either way, this is a given--just sleep.

Next