Am I Experiencing Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)?

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a condition characterized by preoccupation with perceived flaws or faults in physical appearance that are not noticeable or appear insignificant to others.

People with BDD might attempt to camouflage or change their perceived flaws, avoid situations that increase their distress, or perform repetitive behaviors, (e.g., mirror checking or reassurance seeking) and mental acts (e.g., comparing their appearance with that of others) in response to their self-consciousness.

Research suggests that BDD is experienced by between 1 and 3 people out of every 100 (Hartmann et al., 2017).

The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for BDD (APA, 2013) include:

• A preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance that are not observable or appear slight to others.
• The performance of repetitive behaviors (e.g., mirror checking, excessive grooming, skin picking, reassurance seeking) or mental acts (e.g., comparing his or her appearance with that of others) in response to the appearance concerns.
• Clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, caused by the preoccupation.
• A preoccupation with appearance that is not better explained by concerns with body fat on weight in an individual whose symptoms meet diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder.

The ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for BDD (World Health Organization, 2019) include:

• Persistent preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in appearance, or ugliness in general, that is either unnoticeable or only slightly noticeable to others.
• Excessive self-consciousness about the perceived defects or flaws, often including ideas of self-reference (i.e., the belief that people are noticing, judging, or talking about the perceived defects or flaws).

The preoccupation or self-consciousness is accompanied by any of the following:

• Repetitive and excessive behaviors, such as repeated examination of the appearance or severity of the perceived defects or flaws (e.g., by checking in reflective surfaces) or comparison of the relevant feature with that of others.
• Excessive attempts to camouflage or alter the perceived defect (e.g., specific and elaborate forms of dress, undergoing ill-advised cosmetic surgical procedures).
• Marked avoidance of social or other situations or stimuli that increase distress about the perceived defects or flaws (e.g., reflective surfaces, changing rooms, swimming pools).
• Significant distress or impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. If functioning is maintained, it is only through significant additional effort.

Am I Experiencing Body Dysmorphic Disorder? is an indicative screening tool, designed to help clients self-assess whether their experiences might warrant further investigation. It is not intended to give a formal diagnosis or provide a measure of severity.

"Some people who report similar experiences to yours have a condition called body dysmorphic disorder. Would you like to try a short quiz that could give us an idea of whether this problem troubles you?"

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
• Stansfeld, S., Clark, C., Bebbington, P., King, M., Jenkins, R., & Hinchliffe, S. (2016). Chapter 2: Common mental disorders. In S. McManus, P. Bebbington, R. Jenkins, & T. Brugha (Eds.), Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital.
• van Eeden, A. E., van Hoeken, D., & Hoek, H. W. (2021). Incidence, prevalence and mortality of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 34, 515-524.
• World Health Organization. (2019). ICD-11: International classification of diseases (11th revision). Retrieved from https://icd.who.int/