Living with BDD? Help shape the research conducted into Body Dysmorphic Disorder
If you have experience of BDD, your input is invaluable. University College London (UCL) are conducting crucial research aimed at improving the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of BDD. By participating, you can help shape future research and support resources. Your insights will guide the research questions asked and the development of supportive resources. This ensures that efforts are both relevant and respectful to those living with BDD.
As a member, you will:
Attend occasional online meetings.
Provide feedback on various research aspects.
Receive compensation for your time and contributions.
More information below!
Register here, or contact Emma Dunford or Emma Denton at UCL: emma.dunford.20@ucl.ac.uk and/or emma.denton.24@ucl.ac.uk by Monday 25th August to find out more.
“My BDD is the best it’s ever been… I’ve learned how to manage it a lot better.”
Our guest for this episode is Danny Gray, whose organisation JAAQ (or Just Ask a Question) is the podcast’s champion sponsor as a result of the Big Give campaign. Danny tells us about his 18-year journey with BDD and how he manages to stay well today.
You can download the transcript for this episode here:
We’ve been completely blown away by Charlotte Joy’s newly released debut single, ‘Elephant’ – a moving and beautifully crafted song about her experience of BDD.Charlotte captures the pain, complexity, and resilience so many in the BDD community will recognise. This powerful song is not only a personal expression, but a gift to the wider BDD and mental health community, helping to raise awareness, break stigma, and remind others that they are not alone.
Thank you, Charlotte, for your courage and creativity.
🎧 Listen here and make sure to share too! 📷 Album artwork: @william.pavli
We’re excited to announce that we have 3 charity places available for the Brighton & Hove 10K 2026!
This is an exciting opportunity to take part in one of the South Coast’s most iconic runs, while making a real difference to people affected by BDD. Spots are limited and will go quickly, so don’t miss out!
Come and join our team of compassionate lived-experience volunteers!
About the Service
Our online support groups play an important role, alongside treatment, in recovering from and managing BDD. They provide a safe environment where people can talk openly about their BDD, as well as giving support and encouragement to others. Many attendees find comfort in shared experience, knowing they are not alone, and hearing stories from individuals at different stages of their recovery. We are expanding our support groups to offer additional sessions on a new day/ time to reach even more individuals in need.
About the role
For this role, it’s important to have a very strong understanding of BDD and its impact. We’re looking for volunteers with excellent listening skills, the ability to make others feel welcome and comfortable, and empathy. We particularly encourage applications from individuals with lived experience of BDD, since these groups are peer led – an approach we have found to be particularly effective in supporting those experiencing BDD.
Training and induction will be provided. We ask for a minimum commitment of 1.5-3 hours per month.
How to apply
Please submit a CV and a personal statement (max 600 words) to volunteers@bddfoundation.org which highlights the following:
As we are beginning to see AI tools like ChatGPT become part of everyday life, some users are turning to these platforms for deeply personal and troubling forms of guidance, including assessments and criticism of their appearance. A recent feature in Rolling Stone explored this trend, focusing specifically on individuals with BDD.
While some users prompt AI to critique their looks as harshly as possible, requesting ‘brutal honesty’ and getting cruel feedback in return, clinicians are warning that this behaviour can be psychologically dangerous. The article spoke with Dr. Toni Pikoos, a clinical psychologist in Melbourne, who said, ‘It’s almost coming up in every single session’ with her BDD clients, many of whom are now asking AI to evaluate their attractiveness or suggest cosmetic improvements.
AI’s perceived neutrality makes it especially risky in this context. ‘A chatbot… doesn’t have anything to gain,’ Toni Pikoos shared, which can lead users to believe its feedback is inherently more objective than that of a human. But these bots often ‘reflect back the person’s experience,’ echoing their insecurities rather than offering impartial insight.
This new version of reassurance seeking plays into common BDD compulsions, with chatbots becoming an inexhaustible source of validation, or criticism. As Kitty Newman Managing Director of the BDD Foundation shares, ‘We know that individuals with BDD are very vulnerable to harmful use of AI… The high levels of shame with BDD make it easier for sufferers to engage online than in person.’
There are also growing concerns about privacy and future commercial use. As users reveal their insecurities and upload personal photos, questions arise about whether this data could one day be used to target them with advertisements for cosmetic products or procedures.
This overview is a summary of the key points from a longer article originally published by Rolling Stone.
Come and join our team of compassionate lived-experience volunteers!
About the Service
Our online support groups play an important role, alongside treatment, in recovering from and managing BDD. They provide a safe environment where people can talk openly about their BDD, as well as giving support and encouragement to others. Many attendees find comfort in shared experience, knowing they are not alone, and hearing stories from individuals at different stages of their recovery. We are expanding our support groups to offer additional sessions on a new day/ time to reach even more individuals in need.
About the role
For this role, it’s important to have a very strong understanding of BDD and its impact. We’re looking for volunteers with excellent listening skills, the ability to make others feel welcome and comfortable, and empathy. We particularly encourage applications from individuals with lived experience of BDD, since these groups are peer led – an approach we have found to be particularly effective in supporting those experiencing BDD.
Training and induction will be provided. We ask for a minimum commitment of 1.5-3 hours per month.
How to apply
Please submit a CV and a personal statement (max 600 words) to volunteers@bddfoundation.org which highlights the following:
Attention to the sensitivity and nuances of this condition is demonstrated throughout, with a fusion of clear clinical understanding and deep compassion.
We were delighted to receive an exclusive, advanced copy of the long-awaited 2nd Edition of ‘Overcoming Body Dysmorphic Disorder’. Things have come a long way since the publication of the 1st edition in 2009, titled ‘Overcoming Body Image Problems, including body dysmorphic disorder’. As part of a wider ‘Overcoming’ series, it’s great to see Body Dysmorphic Disorder front and centre. Attention to the sensitivity and nuances of this condition is demonstrated throughout, with a fusion of clear clinical understanding and deep compassion.
The warm and chatty language is under-pinned with evidence-based and up to date knowledge. Additions that we found particularly helpful were highlighting common myths around appearance, the embedding of self-compassion techniques throughout, the use of metaphors that bring concepts to life and the relatable case studies.
This isn’t just a book, it’s a self-help workbook. It takes you step by step on a journey to recovery, providing detailed explanation of each intervention, and with every chapter providing the ‘pit-stop’ space for journaling, encouraging both guided reflection and action.
“I definitely had all the symptoms, but I was still in belief that it was just because my skin was bad and when it clears I would be fine and back to my normal self. However, that was far from true.”
During school I always had comments made about my eyes which made me feel like they were abnormal, which really started affecting me more and more. By the age of 15, the thoughts I had about my face were extremely negative. This caused me to start trying to alter my appearance by wearing extremely heavy makeup. This included foundation, concealer, winged eyeliner and 2 pairs of stacked false lashes.
I would never leave the house without a full face of makeup, nor would I let anyone see me without it. Even to the point that when I went to friend’s houses for the night, I wouldn’t sleep all night in case my makeup came off – I didn’t want anyone to see my face without it.
I was under an immense amount of unnecessary stress in school which caused my skin to breakout and I developed acne. That was the point at which things got a whole lot worse. One morning I just locked the bathroom door and broke down in tears to my Mum saying, “I can’t go out or leave the house, my skin is a mess, it looks disgusting.” but I thought how I was feeling was normal for all teenage girls.
I went to the doctors, mainly for my skin problems as I didn’t want to leave the house or see anyone because of how bad I felt it was. I was given medication for my acne, however I still felt this was not helping and still felt my skin was disgusting. My parents were concerned and got CAMHS involved. I saw them twice and they said that was once my skin was better, I would be fine. Well, that left me even more fixated on fixing my skin.
For the next few years, I only left the house on occasions to go to medical appointments and only saw my family that I live with. I became so obsessed and fixated on my skin and making it perfectly clear. I would constantly check the mirror multiple times a day, seek reassurance from my Mum all the time and spend hours a day googling different ways to clear my skin.
When my skin was looking clear to my family, I could not see it. Every single time I would check the mirror and all I could see was ‘bad skin’ and no matter what my family said I did not believe them. I didn’t know what was going on and neither did my family. That was until I came across BDD while searching on google.
I definitely had all the symptoms, but I was still in belief that it was just because my skin was bad and when it clears and it is perfect I will be fine and back to my normal self. However, that was far from true.
I went back to the doctors as my parents were very concerned, and the doctors referred me to IAPT (now known as Talking Therapies within the NHS). I had low intensity talking therapy, which did not help at all, I just got worse. I was then put on a waiting list to have high intensity CBT which was 8-12 weeks waiting time. During the waiting time, I deteriorated so much and all the symptoms I was having heightened massively.
I couldn’t function properly with everyday tasks and life in general – the preoccupation with my skin was taking over! However, I would not take any other medication, only medication given to me by my a dermatologist because I was so worried it would negatively affect my skin and make it even worse.
I was having strong feelings of disgust about my skin/face, and I would constantly make statements like ‘my face is a mess’, ‘my skin is disgusting’, ‘I can’t live with my skin looking like this’ and ‘no one deserves to see this absolute monstrosity of a face that I have!’
When it came to starting the CBT, I couldn’t carry on with the sessions because I would not leave the house.
I developed such a strong feeling that I deserved to be punished for how disgusting my skin/face was, especially every time I saw my reflection through the mirror, and then that is when I started self-harming as a form of self-punishment for how disgusting my skin was and I tried to end my life because I could not see any future at all as long as I had my skin/face. I remember actually feeling like I didn’t belong on this planet because of how abnormal and disgusting I was because of my skin.
My parents were extremely worried and concerned and had to do what they could to help me. I ended up getting sectioned under the MHA and taken to hospital as my parents were told I would get the right help this way.
That is when I got the official diagnosis of BDD.
However, during the 3 years I was sectioned for, I was moved around to 6 different hospitals and didn’t end up getting the help I needed due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of BDD and also because they were trying to save money. Instead, I was put through a traumatic experience and mistreated in many ways.
I became even worse than I was before going into hospital. I eventually was given an assessment by Professor David Veale which my parents had to fight for and I was diagnosed with severe BDD.
My parents ended up getting me out of hospital as I was not getting the help I needed, and I was also diagnosed with FND and needed to use a wheelchair from the trauma I went through in those settings.
I have followed the BDD Foundation for years on social media and got support from them, so when I got out of hospital and I was at home, I was extremely fortunate enough to get a place on the Overcoming BDD Programme, which is a peer-led, self-help therapy group offering many CBT techniques to help manage BDD. It helped me massively and I was supported through things I never thought I would be able to do, considering how severe my BDD was. I received nothing but genuine understanding shown throughout. I will always be grateful for the help I received from the Foundation.
Now I am able to leave the house and actually live my life. Yes of course, I do sometimes have bad days where I feel like I don’t want to go out but, that is nothing compared to before! I have so much coming up to look forward to and I am beyond excited.
So, my advice to people who may have just read my story and can relate or know someone who can, please do not be afraid or even ashamed to reach out, especially to the BDD Foundation. I know myself from my own personal lived experience with BDD how awful, isolating and soul- destroying it can be. But what I do know is, I got through it… so YOU can too!
Researchers at the University of Oxford are recruiting individuals with and without Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) to participate in research.
Participation will involve completing a 30–45-minute online survey. Individuals will be asked to answer questions about their general demographics, their experiences in close/intimate relationship(s) and their experiences of sensitivity to rejection. Individuals with experience of BDD will also be asked a few additional questions about their BDD. Participants will not need to provide any identifying information, and all responses will be stored securely.
To be eligible to participate, individuals need to either:
Have experienced Body Dysmorphic Disorder.
Be aged 18 years or over.
Have not been diagnosed with, or have experienced symptoms of, an eating disorder.
Not currently be experiencing symptoms of another severe and enduring mental health condition that may impact on your wellbeing or ability to partake in the study.
Have experience of romantic relationship(s).
Be able to access the internet (to complete online questionnaire).
Be able to understand English.
OR
HAVE NOT experienced Body Dysmorphic Disorder (control group)
Be aged 18 years or over.
Have not been diagnosed with, or experienced symptoms of, an eating disorder.
Not currently be experiencing symptoms of another severe and enduring mental health condition that may impact on your wellbeing or ability to partake in the study.
Have experience of romantic relationship(s).
Be able to access the internet (to complete online questionnaire).
Be able to understand English.
This research is being undertaken as part of a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford.
Please see the accompanying poster and follow the link below for more information and to participate. You can also contact alanah.bagwell@hmc.ox.ac.uk for more information or if you have any queries.
