Posted 07 September 2012 - 04:46 AM
Hmm, BDD... what to say...
I have personal experience with subclinical body dysmorphia, though it's never reached the clinical level. What I can say is that my experience is concordant with the literature suggesting overactivity of featural processing of self-image in the mirror and in pictures of oneself. When combined with a negativity bias (in my case, the general and self-focused negativity biases of depression), this hyperattentiveness to specific features becomes a hyperattentiveness to specific negative features. As a result, one becomes blind to one's good qualities.
The solution is twofold. Number one, fix the negativity bias. (In my case that was due to ongoing bright light therapy, a year of high-dose selegiline treatment, and a round of psychotherapy.) Number two, stop the featural processing -- faces and bodies are meant to be processed configurally, not featurally! In other words, all anybody else sees is an overall gestalt impression of your face and body. They don't look at details. Including that ONE detail, that one nasty one, that one you really would get the surgery for if you had the money... Trust me, not only do other people not stare at it and judge you for it, they don't even NOTICE it.
So IME the fix for overactive featural processing is to restrict mirror- and photograph-staring time. You should only permit yourself to glance at the mirror for a second or so, only long enough to see the basic outline of your face or body. If you stare long enough to notice negative things, they will grow in your mind while the positive features wither away (again, only in your mind). If you only give your mind time to process your body configurally, it will see what everyone else sees.
...If at this point it's obvious that I didn't read the link, don't be mad. It's really late and my back hurts and I'm tired. Just reply with a quote and I'll read the link tomorrow.
