News

Medication for BDD

with Dr Katharine Phillips

Dr. Phillips is Professor of Psychiatry, Dewitt Wallace Senior Scholar, and Residency Research Director at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Attending Psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. Her pioneering research on BDD has identified and elucidated many important aspects of this common and severe disorder, and she has developed and tested treatments, both medication and therapy, for BDD.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) can often be effectively treated with certain types of medication. Medication and cognitive-behavioural therapy that is tailored to BDD are the only two evidence-based treatments for BDD. For medication to be effective, the correct medication, dosing, and trial duration are needed. This presentation, by Dr. Katharine Phillips, who has conducted most of the published medication studies of BDD, will review first-line medication approaches for BDD, including dosing and trial duration. She will also discuss next-step options if a first-line medication is not adequately helpful. In addition, Dr. Phillips will review myths about medication, some possible side effects and approaches that may alleviate them if they occur, and other topics such as for how long a helpful medication should be continued.

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Application of the CBT Model to BDD treatment

with Dr Katharine Phillips

Dr. Neziroglu is a Board Certified Psychologist who has been involved in the research and treatment of Obsessive Compulsive related disorders and anxiety disorders for over 25 years. She has presented and published over 100 papers in scientific journals and co-authored numerous books. She is clinical director and co-founder of the Bio Behavioral Institute in Greak Neck, New York. Dr. Neziroglu received her PhD in Clinical, School-Community Psychology from Hofstra University. She is Board Certified in both Behavioral (ABBP) and Professional Psychology (ABBP). She is also a Board Member and a Fellow of ABBP’s Academy. She is Full Professor at Hofstra University, Department of Psychology and Clinical Professor of Psychology at New York University.

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Taking the pressure out of recovery

with Dr Katharine Phillips

A participant of BBC Three’s ‘Extreme OCD Camp’ in 2013, Jack has extensively written and spoken about OCD in the national press and TV, including Time to Change, BBC Breakfast and The Victoria Derbyshire Show. Now the CEO of UK-wide disability charity, The Accessful Foundation, Jack is the author of ‘Life On The Other Side’, a two-in-one book about recovery (with proceeds to OCD Action) and a public speaker and business consultant.

A talk on some of the things I wish I’d done differently as a young person, how your version of recovery can be caught (even if you think it can’t), how to avoid the added pressures of ‘enjoying the best years of your life’ and how building a team around you can be one of the greatest things you ever do.

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Parenting a child with BDD – a parent’s story

with Dr Katharine Phillips

Scarlett is a trustee of The BDD Foundation. Since having children, Scarlett has been a stay-at-home mother of four, one of whom has suffered with BDD since 2010. She has had to fight the NHS system to obtain the treatment her daughter so desperately required. Scarlett has gained an extremely close insight into BDD and the struggles of living with and supporting a BDD sufferer.

When a young person experiences BDD, it not only affects them but their parents, carers, family and friends. In this talk, Scarlett will share her insights from parenting a child with BDD. She will discuss the impact this had on familial relationships before, during, and after her daughter Alanah accessed treatment. She will then host a discussion for other parents and answer questions based on her own insights and lived-experience.

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Understanding and treating BDD in young people

with Dr Katharine Phillips

Elif is a Clinical Psychologist at the National and Specialist OCD, BDD and Related Disorder Clinic at the Maudsley Hospital. She provides specialist assessment and evidence-based treatment for children and adolescents with OCD and BDD. Elif is a peer-reviewed author and has a strong interest in developing and delivering effective psychological interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Elif will focus on understanding BDD in young people and the treatment approach taken. The first part of the talk will provide an overview of BDD symptoms, share key facts on the condition, and discuss why BDD remains underdiagnosed. The second part will provide information on how to access help and what to expect from assessment and evidence-based treatment for BDD in children and young people.

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Transition to Adult Mental Health Services

with Dr Katharine Phillips

Gazal is a Senior Clinical Psychologist at the service, providing specialist treatment to children and young people with OCD. She is the diversity representative and leading on initiatives to improve the experience of families from ethnic minorities and considering aspects of diversity in OCD assessment and treatment. She has also appeared on BBC Radio 4 and Talk Radio to myth bust misconceptions around OCD.

Transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to Adult Mental Health services can be a challenging time for young people and their families. This talk will describe specialist adult services for OCD and BDD as well as non-specialist community adult services, and explain the process of referral and funding. There will also be discussion on the similarities and differences between CAMHS and Adult Mental Health services and top tips for parents. The purpose of this talk is to give parents information about specialist and non-specialist adult services so that they can best navigate the transition from CAMHS to adult services for their child.

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Managing challenging behaviour in children & young people with OCD/BDD

with Dr Katharine Phillips

Chloë is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Team Lead for the service, overseeing treatment for the most severe, treatment-resistant cases of young people with OCD. She is pioneering Multi-Family Group work with families of young people with OCD. With 2 colleagues, she published the clinic’s treatment manual and workbook OCD – Tools to help young people fight back! Turner, Krebs and Volz. OCD and related disorders cause high levels of distress and anxiety and it is not uncommon for children and young people suffering from OCD to become aggressive and challenging at times. Parents may report that this is “out of character” and it can be highly distressing for family members to have to witness and manage these episodes of challenging behaviour. This talk aims to help parents to understand what might be going on for their children and to help them think through how best to approach these situations.

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How to help your child get the best out of therapy

with Dr Katharine Phillips

Georgina is an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor of Young People’s Mental Health and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, at University College London. Her research interests include developing novel, evidence-based methods for delivering cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in young people, and understanding factors that interfere with recovery in order to inform the development of new treatment approaches.

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a highly effective treatment for OCD and BDD, but young people often require support from parents to get the most out of therapy. This talk will cover some of the factors that can interfere with young people fully engaging with CBT, and we will discuss what parents can do to promote engagement. The talk will also address some of the common concerns that families have about remotely-delivered therapy, which has become commonplace over the last 15 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Get involved with the BDD Foundation

with Dr Katharine Phillips

Rob, Kitty and Hannah recap recent news and developments from the charity, community initiatives and how you can get involved with helping the Foundation.

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Harnessing peer support from lived experience of BDD

with Dr Katharine Phillips

We hear too often that people with BDD fall through the gaps between primary and secondary care and are left unable to access this treatment which is vital for recovery from BDD. As a charity, we responded to the inconsistencies in statutory mental health care provision by establishing a Structured Support Group (Now known as Overcoming BDD Programme), where we deliver evidence-based CBT in a group format online. We also enable peer support both between participants of the group and from our team of Peer Facilitators who all have their own experiences of BDD. The pilot phase ran from 2018-2021, where we conducted three iterations of the pilot project. We collected lots of feedback from both our participants and our Peer Facilitators, so that we could evaluate its success and make improvements. This talk will explore the role of peer support in the BDD Foundation’s online CBT-BDD programme and will provide a chance to hear from former participants on how accessing peer support has been so vital for their recovery.

Hannah works at the BDD Foundation co-ordinating the peer-delivered group-CBT project for BDD. She is a PhD researcher at Queen Mary, University of London where she studies culturally inclusive prevention strategies for eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder – both of which she has lived experience of.

Alanah has worked for the BDD Foundation as a structured support group facilitator. She is currently finishing her two-year MSc in Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice at UCL and The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. Alanah has lived experience of BDD and has raises awareness about BDD through newspaper/magazine articles, documentaries, podcasts and as a speaker for the BDD Foundation Conference in 2016.

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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!