Persuasive Essay On Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Imagine looking in the mirror and seeing yourself as an ugly deformed human being. You spend hours a day trying to do your make up. You are constantly looking in the mirror to see if you look ok. You are unable to leave your house in fear that others will judge and embarrass you because of your ugliness. You are depressed, and have no feelings of hope. For many with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) this nightmare is a torturous reality. This is why Body Dysmorphic Disorder needs to be made aware. People with BDD should not be seen as individuals that are overly self-conscious, but as people with a serious illness because it puts them in a constant state of fear and anxiety with negative consequences such as self-harm and death if untreated. Body

The media gives people a set standard of how they should look in society. The media will tell a woman that her hips have to be eleven inches wide and she has to weigh a hundred pounds in order to be beautiful. “In America, overweight women suffer the preponderance of weight-based discrimination. They are not viewed as “normal human being[s] with normal needs, desires, virtues and vices, but as failures, examples of what not to be—or become” (Bradley University). The Media will also tell men that they have have to six pack abs and large biceps in order to be seen as a real man and be desired by women. “Media depictions of large, heavily muscled male bodies emphasize male power and dominance” (Bradley University). The way someone is raised also plays an important part of how someone develops BDD. Children raised by abusive parents may feel an obsessive need to become more than perfect to please their parents. Unfortunately these parents do not see their children as perfect and will install the feelings of worthlessness and ugliness. BDD sufferer Doug Tyrrell says his abusive father, along with other stressful situation in his life were the cause of his BDD. “I was a jittery nervous person. I had a father that use to yell at me all the time. He called me stupid so many times I thought that was my middle name” (Tyrrell). The culture a child is raised in can also aid

People with BDD believe something is physically wrong with them and will normally seek plastic surgery to fix their flaw. “Twelve percent of patients that went to see a dermatologist screened positive for BDD” (Katharine Phillips). Many people with BDD will have social anxiety. Sufferers will avoid friends, family, and any situation involving people because of the fear of being look at and judged by others. BDD sufferers will commonly experience depression at one point in their life, but it is when the depression turn into the feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness that BDD can become dangerous. Many people with BDD have thought about or have attempted suicide. Chris Saville had a son with BDD whose attempt at at suicide was successful because he went untreated for so long. “ He said to me; you don’t understand so I’m going to kill myself. I’ve had enough. There's no hope. He said he felt like an alien on the planet”