News

BBC Room 5 speaks to Tilly

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.”

Listen to the podcast by following this link

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No safety without emotional safety article

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.

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Christmas Special – Managing BDD in the holidays

Autumn Webinar | with Andy Hall, Kim Booker, Lawrence Baker and Kitty Wallace

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Olfactory Reference Disorder

Autumn Webinar | with Professor David Veale

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BDD and Relationships

Autumn Webinar | with Scott Granet, Chris Trondsen and Robyn Stern

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with BDD

Autumn Webinar | with Dr Amita Jassi & Dr Elif Gocken

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The Neglected Trauma of Neglect

Autumn Webinar | with Arie Winograd and Dr Nicole Schnackenberg

Considering Emotional Developmental Trauma in the Etiology of BDD

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Managing Social Media with BDD

Autumn Webinar | with Robyn Stern

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Christmas Special Webinar!

This Autumn we are bringing you a new series of webinars covering new topics that we hope will be of interest and support to the BDD community.

Register your attendance for the live zoom webinar:

A lovely group of individuals with lived experience of BDD will be presenting a webinar on:

‘Managing BDD over the holidays’

With the holidays approaching (often a difficult time of year for anyone affected by BDD) we wanted to bring you a Christmas Special Webinar.

We have a wonderful group of people speaking about how they have managed (or not) during the holidays when living with BDD. They will share their experiences as well as discussing what helped them, what didn’t, and giving some hints and tips to family members about how best they can support their loved one.

We’d also like to recognise that not everyone experiencing BDD celebrates Christmas, and that depending on your background and culture there may be holidays or periods of time that involve similar pressures and triggers to what we talk about in the webinar. With this in mind, we hope that this webinar is still helpful.

Date: Wednesday 7th December

Time: 7-8pm GMT

Presenting: Andy Hall, Kim Booker, Mia Hill and Lawrence Baker.


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Participants needed – Body Image & Ethnicity Study.

A new research study is exploring potential improvements to mental health education policy to prevent eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder in a more inclusive way.

This study is exploring the role of ethnicity and culture in body dissatisfaction and body image.

The study also will also explore how these types of difficulties (i.e. eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder) could be prevented in the future.

They want to talk to people who have the first-hand experience of body image problems and use their valuable insights and expertise.

Participants needed are: Young people who identify as female, aged 13-19 and from a South Asian background to chat with me about body image either in a focus group or a 1:1 chat.

The study is important because it could influence prevention strategies in the school environment which could stop young people from developing problems associated with body image such as eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder.

To find out more or to participate follow this link.

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The Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation. Charity no. 1153753.

Online BDD Conference

An opportunity for professionals, researchers, students, and those with lived experience to find community and to learn more about BDD.

Join this virtual event on Saturday, May 31, 2025!