In today’s “face value is justice” era, good-looking seems to have become an advantage recognized by everyone. “Long legs”, “straight shoulders”, “first love face”…… these labels constantly refreshing the public’s perception of beauty, beauty filter-enhanced Netflix beauty is to aggravate people’s appearance anxiety The netroots beauty under the influence of beauty filters has exacerbated people’s anxiety about their appearance.
In today’s “face value is justice” era, good-looking seems to have become an advantage recognized by everyone. “Long legs”, “straight shoulders”, “first love face”…… these labels constantly refreshing the public’s perception of beauty, beauty filter-enhanced Netflix beauty is to aggravate people’s appearance anxiety The netroots beauty under the influence of beauty filters has exacerbated people’s anxiety about their appearance.
So, have you fallen into the circle of “feeling the ugliest in the world”? Do you often look at yourself in the mirror and feel anxious, always feel ugly and extremely painful?
If you often have this kind of psychological friend should pay attention, perhaps you have a disease called “imagine ugly syndrome”.
1 What is Imagine Ugly Syndrome?
Imagine Ugly Syndrome, as the name suggests, is an excessive preoccupation with one’s own imagined physical defects. It is a common mental disorder known as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) refers to a mental disorder in which the individual imagines that he or she has a defect even though there is no defect in his or her physical appearance, or only a minor defect that the individual exaggerates and becomes obsessed with it, suffering and anxious.
Simply put, the person with Body Dysmorphic Disorder sees an ugly, deformed version of themselves.
Body dysmorphic disorder is a very common and serious mental illness that is under-recognized by the general public. It often occurs in adolescence and in some cases even in childhood. Epidemiologic studies of somatoform disorders have shown a prevalence of 2.4% among adults in the United States, and outside of the United States (e.g., in Germany), the current prevalence is about 1.7% to 1.8%, with females having a slightly higher prevalence than males, but the overall difference is not significant. In the college population, the prevalence is about 4% to 13%.
Somatoform disorders may have a sudden onset or a gradual onset, and although the severity of symptoms varies, there is little to no intervening period throughout the course of the disease, or it may manifest itself as a chronic process, with symptoms potentially lasting 10 to 20 years from the onset of the disease to the time the patient goes to see a doctor.
2 Manifestations of somatoform disorder
Seeing this are you also beginning to panic, they will also have the time to be dissatisfied with the appearance, so how to determine whether they are somatodysmorphic disorder? Before you doubt yourself, let’s look at what specific manifestations are at the bottom of somatoform disorder.
Extremely focused on himself
In somatoform disorder, the individual is overly preoccupied with minor imperfections in themselves, paying selective attention to a particular part or organ, such as the eyes, ears, chin, etc., or wrinkles, spots, etc., and perceives these appearances as defective, ugly, deformed, grotesque, etc.
In addition, the person imagines that other people will also notice this “defect” and consider it ugly. Therefore, he often thinks that his appearance is unattractive or deformed.
As a result, individuals usually spend a great deal of time looking in the mirror, repeatedly scrutinizing themselves in the mirror to see if their flaws have become more noticeable or if they have changed a little.
Frequent comparisons
In somatoform disorder, individuals engage in frequent comparative behavior, spending hours studying photographs of themselves at different times, constantly comparing current photographs with those they once had, and repeatedly confirming the defective condition.
Even when you go out, you can’t help comparing the defective parts you care about with others, and when you talk to someone, you can’t concentrate on the conversation and all your energy is focused on the other person’s appearance.
What’s more, they will constantly compare themselves with artists and celebrities in movies, TV dramas and magazines.
Negativity
Individuals are obsessed with their imagined defective areas, even to the extent that they constantly think they are “getting ugly”, and even fall into the illusion that “everyone is looking at my defects” when in public. They have a very negative view of the defective part of their body and consider it to be more important than other parts of their appearance.
This seriously affects their social functioning because the long-term physical and mental pain makes them particularly sensitive to their own appearance, and others’ careless jokes or glances make them doubt their appearance. Gradually, they begin to lose interest in external things and even refuse to socialize with others.
This kind of mental disorder will lead to extreme emotional distress of the individual, accompanied by severe depression, withdrawn behavior, etc., and a high rate of suicide.
Constantly changing yourself
Individuals will try to cover up their original flaws by constantly changing their makeup, hairstyles, and clothes in an attempt to make themselves a little more agreeable; there are also many people who will turn to plastic surgeons multiple times and utilize cosmetic surgery after cosmetic surgery to change their appearance.
3 Causes of the development of body dysmorphic disorder
In this era of “God has eyes and looks at faces”, everyone feels ugly and has low self-esteem for a period of time or for a long time. So why do some people suffer from somatoform disorder?
Some foreign scholars have shown that the abuse and trauma experienced in childhood may be an important factor leading to the formation of somatoform disorder.
Didie et al. researchers administered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to 75 individuals with somatoform disorders, and overall, 78.7% of participants reported abuse, which included emotional neglect (68%), emotional abuse (56%), physical abuse (34.7%), physical neglect (33.3%), and sexual abuse (28%).
Findings suggest that episodes of somatoform disorders are largely attributable to stressful events, including severe bullying, natural disasters, major illnesses, parental death or abandonment, witnessing self-injurious or suicidal behavior, pet abuse, and domestic violence.
However, to date, there has been very limited investigation of a wider range of types of childhood traumatic events in somatoform disorders, and somatoform disorders often arise in tandem with other psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and anorexia nervosa. Therefore, it has not been possible to fully assess more other causes.
4 Therapeutic modalities
If you find that you have a tendency towards somatoform disorders, don’t panic and actively seek help from your doctor for treatment.
The course of somatoform disorder is usually chronic, and according to foreign reports, it is difficult to cure this disease with drugs. Because this is a psychological disorder, if the main psychological treatment, with an appropriate amount of drugs, the therapeutic effect is still very good.
Apart from that, you need to realize that the body is your own and you can only accept yourself by accepting its imperfections. Try to build up your sense of self-esteem, raise your self-esteem level, and properly recognize your worth. There’s nothing wrong with your body, it’s just that over-obsession and compulsion have distorted the perception of it, and you’re good looking.
In addition, the Internet is also an important factor leading to the formation of somatoform disorders. Repeatedly watching the perfect appearance of other people displayed on the Internet will lead to a strong contrast in the individual and enhance the degree of dissatisfaction with oneself. So, it’s okay to look at Internet videos, but never take them seriously. Anchors who turn off their beauty filters may not be perfect.
There should be only one standard of beauty, and that is health.
Different skin colors, body shapes, and features show different kinds of beauty, and you don’t need to pay for society’s standards of beauty. Your beauty should come from your heart, from the self-confidence, bravery, independence and kindness that you possess.