“I feel very comfortable in my body today. I’m inside looking out at the world, and it’s a much more stable place to be.”
After suffering with BDD for many years, Tilly is now reaping the benefits of all the time and effort she put into recovering from the condition. Her story proves that if you keep putting in the work, you will get something out of it.
You can download the transcript for this episode here:
The West Highland Way is a 96 mile route in Scotland which Alex and Bryony aim to complete in 6 days. On the 7th day they will climb all 1345 metres of Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in the UK)!
Alex and his partner Bryony are walking the West Highland Way in June 2023, to raise funds for the BDD Foundation. As someone who lives with BDD, Alex is passionate about raising awareness of BDD and being an important voice for the many people out there who are yet to speak about their condition or get support.
“I have been diagnosed with this disorder for a while now and at times it can be debilitating for myself and massively impact those who love me.”
Alex has engaged with support from the BDD Foundation, including support groups, retreat days and listening to the Beating BDD podcast. The recommended treatment for BDD is antidepressant medication combined with intensive CBT, however current waiting times in the UK to receive such psychological intervention can be lengthy.
“It is therefore essential that this charity continues to be accessible for people suffering with BDD and their loved ones.”
Alex and Bryony have chosen a walking challenge, as being outside in nature and walking helps them both manage the distressing and unwanted feelings caused by BDD.
“We are both fully aware that there are people diagnosed with severe BDD who are unable to leave the house and face the world. We aim to complete this walking challenge so that we can give these people hope that no matter how difficult things may seem, they can improve with the right help and support.”
Please support Alex and Bryony in this fantastic challenge, and help contribute to our essential ongoing support services and research.
Beau (aka @DadBod_Cyclist) shares his experience of BDD as a result of devastating and heartbreaking childhood trauma.
Beau has spent time understanding his past, in order to move forward in his journey of recovery. BDD has impacted all areas of his life and ability to function.
‘I’ve had long stretches of periods of time where I couldn’t leave the house. The weight on me felt so heavy it felt as though it was crushing my organs.’
Someone described to Beau what BDD was in more detail, explaining that it’s a recognised and treatable illness. This is when he began understanding the nature of the condition. He realised BDD was what he was experiencing, now and for years before then, and was able to begin working on healing.
‘It’s very hard to contextualise for someone that hasn’t experienced BDD, what it actually means. It’s like standing in front of one of those fun mirrors at a circus that is ever evolving and changing. I never know what I am going to see when I look in the mirror.’
Beau has discovered a love for cycling as part of his healing from BDD. Before he explored this, he explains that ‘I didn’t want to be a cyclist…everything I knew about cycling and cyclists just looked visually like everything that I’m not.’
However, finding a community and connecting with others through a welcoming and inclusive club, has been an essential part of Beau’s recovery. He reflects that ‘the community aspect of cycling, is the thing that gets me out of bed.’
Beau is on a mission to make change in the cycling industry and shift the perception of what it means to be a cyclist, and allow people to be cyclists simply ‘because they are turning the pedals.’
A huge amount of gratitude to Beau for sharing his experience. It’s such a powerful and important story for others to hear, and we hope many of our readers can resonate with Beau’s journey.
Not Every Fairy Likes Their Wings’ is a short film about a fairy called Lilith. Like most teenagers, she spends her time on her phone, taking selfies and criticising herself. Especially, her wings. Body Dysmorphic Disorder leads her to a dark mental state and she is forced to confront her intrusive thoughts.
This short story brings awareness to Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) which is a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance. In the age of social media, many people spend time worrying about their appearance and comparing themselves to other ideal profiles, but they may not realise that it can be a symptom of BDD.
This is a female lead project and as fans of the fashion style ‘Fairycore’ they wanted to create a short film with beautiful fashion and make-up that represents this style. The film brings surreal characters but shows real problems. Moreover, we want to prove that Fairies are real! And everyone can become one. By supporting this film, you can help their wings to make this beautiful story fly!
Rebecca is an aspiring and talented screenwriter. She has a Foundation Diploma in Design & Media and is currently a third-year Digital Film Production student at Ravensbourne University. She also has experience working at BFI and MET Film School. “I was inspired to write a story due to my own personal experience of body dysmorphia. I made the story about a fairy who’s insecure about her wings because the wings can represent whatever perceived flaw the audience thinks of themselves. Thus making the story applicable to anyone.”
WHY ARE THEY CROWDFUNDING?
We are looking for £2,000 to cover the production expenses including catering and craft services, prop and set dressings, costuming, transportation, and make-up as well as paying the actors. ALL FUNDS WILL BE USED TOWARDS THE FILM AND FILM ONLY.
Ellesha has channelled her experience of Body Dysmorphic Disorder into her fashion photography as part of her MA.
“I’m Ellesha, a fashion photography MA student. I had been struggling with body dysmorphia on and off for many years. When I moved to London I felt a pressure to look a certain way and my body dysmorphia took over my whole life, to the point that I couldn’t leave my flat for days because I was obsessed with what I looked like. It effected my studies, my job, my friendships and relationships I felt like it had taken every part of me that I once loved.”
“I wanted to express the way I was feeling through my art. I find that self portraiture is the best way to convey what I’m truly feeling and it expresses a vulnerability that I can only get from being the model.”
“I began by getting 3D scanned whilst wearing lingerie, this was daunting but I felt most at one with my body this way. I then manipulated the images in various ways to express the way my mind felt about my body. The results became un-human and alien like as I distorted myself to be unrecognisable.”
“As I began to work on the ideas, I heavily researched the disorder and the aspect of mind body dualism meaning I was able to better understand my situation and find ways of slowly accepting myself.”
“I hope that by making this work I can show that body dysmorphic disorder can have hugely devastating effects on the everyday life and completely change the perception we have of ourselves. But to show that no one is alone in experiencing it and there is a light at the end of tunnel.”
The Hurt to Healing podcast with Pandora Morris has interviewed our ambassador Charlie King on his experiences of BDD. Pandora goes on to interview our trustee Dr Amita Jassi on her expert knowledge of the condition.
Pandora launched the Hurt to Healing podcast earlier this year. She opens about about the ‘uphill battle’ she has with her mental health for years. She has now begun ‘to see some glimmers of light’. As part of her own recovery, she has made it her ‘mission to support as many of you as possible on your own healing journey’. In this podcast she speaks to wonderful people from all walks of life who have opened up about their own invisible struggles in the hope that it will provide a bit of solace and comfort for some of you. She speaks to leading experts and doctors about different disorders and therapies that might help expand your knowledge on the world of mental health.
Please follow @hurttohealingpod or view her website.
In her latest episodes she has focused on Body Dysmorphic Disorder by interviewing our lovely ambassador Charlie King
Since leaving the reality show, The Only Way Is Essex in 2015, Charlie has struggled with both depression and body dysmorphic disorder. The pandemic was a challenging time for all of us. And Charlie admits that psychologically he was not in a good place, which led him to get surgery on his nose. Charlie now uses his platform to call for mental health awareness on this issue, and I’m so glad to be able to get the chance to talk to him about it today.
Pandora follows up with some expert knowledge on BDD from our trustee
Dr Amita Jassi.
Dr Jassi is a consultant, clinical psychologist at the National and Specialist OCD, BDD and Related Disorder Service for Children and Young People. Body dysmorphic disorder affects about one in 50 people. We discuss why it’s such a debilitating condition, why there is a lack of insight into it and I ask her about what treatment and therapies are available.
In Room 5, Helena Merriman shares stories of real-life medical mysteries, interviewing people who – like her – were changed by a diagnosis.
This week, Tilly was featured on the BBC Sounds’ Room 5 Medical Mysteries program with broadcaster Helena Merriman. Tilly explains how, from an early age, she, never felt right in her body and how utterly disorientating that is, until one day she sat down with a therapist to put a label on that feeling.
BDD is misunderstood – even in the medical profession where the average time from recognising there is a problem to an actual diagnosis is 10 years! In that time, lives can spiral out of control, social, family and professional life can diminish to zero.
“From the outside, Tilly seems to have life figured out. She works in fashion, lives on a house-boat – for which she’s done all the plumbing and electrics. But inside, she’s struggling. She’s always felt wrong in her body – ever since school. Then one afternoon, Tilly sits down with a therapist – who fits the pieces of the puzzle together and gives Tilly a diagnosis. Tilly’s diagnosis explains the way her brain is wired – now her challenge is to re-wire it, and change her future.”
Professor David Veale, Professor Paul Gilbert and others are calling for a change of culture in institutions that prioritise physical safety over emotional safety. Their article ‘no safety without emotional safety’ has been published in the Lancet.
In the article they ‘explain how trying to control behaviour to increase physical safety in the short term can carry the unintended consequence of reducing emotional safety, which might in turn result in higher levels of stress and hopelessness.’
They ‘use examples from institutions with psychiatric inpatients to describe these processes…arguing that emotional and physical safety cannot be separated, and therefore that the absence of emotional safety compromises basic care either in an acute crisis or in the long term. Staff who fear being criticised, and so feel driven to take autonomy and responsibility away from patients, unwittingly undermine patients’ experience of being empathically understood and supported, adding to patients’ sense of emotional turmoil and lack of safety.’
They suggest that a change in culture and regulatory reform is required to bring psychiatric care more in line with the psychological needs of patients to achieve both physical and emotional safety.
Free link to the article is available for 50 days.
