Come and join us! We are looking for new volunteers to support our E-Helpline service. This is a really rewarding role, with the opportunity to make a difference and provide crucial advice, support and guidance to those suffering with BDD.
The E-Helpline
The BDD Foundation’s email support service is for anyone affected by BDD, or anyone who is concerned that they, their friends or family may have BDD or a related disorder. The service carefully reads through concerns and questions and aims to reply with high quality and accessible information about BDD and the recommended treatments. Where appropriate volunteers will also direct individuals to other sources of support for BDD, or signpost to support for other conditions and other issues. More information can be found here.
The role of Volunteer
The key tasks carried about by volunteers include:
Responding to questions and concerns of individuals that email the service
Offering a compassionate, understanding and safe online space for those struggling
Identifying other sources of support both within and outside of the charity
Working within the policies set by the BDD Foundation
Attendance of ongoing training and development sessions
Skills and Qualities
For this role, it’s important to have a good understanding of BDD and the impact it has. We look for individuals with a non-judgmental attitude, empathy and understanding, and strong written communication skills. Since the role operates remotely, we are also looking for individuals with a good level of IT literacy and confidence using a web based email system.
Training and induction will be provided. We require a minimum commitment of 2.5 hours per week on a rota basis.
How to Apply
Download the Application Form below, and send completed applications to volunteers@bddfoundation.org
For any questions about the role, please contact christian@bddfoundation.org
Miles Nazaire investigates Muscle Dysmorphia, also known as Bigorexia. He shares his own story and speaks to experts calling for increased awareness of the condition.
Channel 4 Untold speak out on Muscle Dysmorphia. The documentary featuring Miles Nazaire, follows his journey in understanding more about the condition and how it manifests, realising this is something he is suffering with and committing to continuing to raise awareness of Muscle Dysmorphia.
Miles discusses treatment options with our trustee Dr. Amita Jassi, the criteria for diagnosis and dangers of the condition with Chairman Dr. Rob Willson, and learns from the lived experience story of our ambassador George Mycock.
Check out the full video on All 4 catch up. Well worth the watch!
People with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) misperceive that parts of their appearance are flawed and unattractive. Our brain imaging studies, and previous psychological studies, suggested abnormalities in how people with BDD process what they see.This could lead to distortions in how they view their appearance. Recently, we have made exciting discoveries using various techniques that suggest we can potentially change the way the brain perceives things in people with BDD. This could be a crucial step in helping people see themselves more accurately. This talk will take you through a journey from the early research into these differences to ongoing efforts to test methods that might one day become part of treatments for individuals with BDD.
Dr. Jamie Feusner is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and Director of the Brain, Body, and Perception Research Program. His research focuses on perceptual and emotional processing in conditions related to body image and obsessions/compulsions, including body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Dr. Feusner is renowned for his pioneering functional brain imaging studies in BDD, uncovering key insights into its neurobiology, including the discovery of visual perceptual abnormalities related to appearance distortions. He is currently developing and testing innovative interventions and their mechanisms to address imbalances in global and local visual processing that underlie distorted self-perception in BDD and body image disorders. Additionally, he has created digital tools for assessing appearance distortions and body dissatisfaction. With two decades of clinical expertise, Dr. Feusner also provides psychiatric care to people with BDD.
Liane Piper, recognisable for her role in the BBC documentary “Ugly Me,” will be sharing an update on her recovery journey. Her talk will include insights into her current status and the progress she’s made with recovery, drawing from her personal battle with Body Dysmorphic Disorder. She aims to provide valuable perspectives to those grappling with similar challenges.
Individuals suffering from BDD all experience appearance fixations. However, people with BDD who are also members of the LGBTQIA+ community are impacted by additional and unique challenges when suffering from this condition. BDD’s impact is more pronounced in LGBTQIA+ individuals, with research showing higher BDD, body dissatisfaction, eating disorder rates, and increased substance use disorder and suicidality than heterosexual individuals. This presentation will focus on how BDD affects all identities in the LGBTQIA+ community. Topics discussed will include high rates of muscle dysmorphia found in gay men, how transgender and gender nonconforming individuals may struggle with both BDD and gender dysphoria, and how people who are bisexual may receive mixed messaging on what potential partners find attractive. Additionally, there will be a focus on how social media, dating apps, LGBTQIA+ representation in the media, and queer culture contribute to the presentation of BDD. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of how the LGBTQIA+ community is impacted by BDD, highlighting the need for researchers to do additional studies on this population and, finally, what we can do to address the epidemic of BDD in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Chris Trondsen suffered from undiagnosed, severe OCD, BDD, major depressive disorder, and anxiety and panic attacks beginning as a young child. It was not until his early 20s that Chris received both a formal diagnosis and specialised treatment. Once he concluded treatment, Chris began advocating publicly for mental health and shared his story of recovery on TV, including the Dr. Drew Show, the Montel Williams Show, and NBC, as well as in various newspapers and websites including Buzzfeed and VICE. Additionally, Chris began speaking at the annual IOCDF conference about OCD and BDD, including giving the keynote with his mom at the 2011 conference. He also helped start the Young Adult Track at the annual conference. No longer under the control of the disorders, Chris now works as a clinician in the mental health field, treating OCD, BDD, and related disorders at The Gateway Institute in Costa Mesa, California. He also currently serves as the Vice President of OCD Southern California, an official affiliate of the IOCDF. He is also a leader of the IOCDF’s BDD and LGBTQ+ Special Interest Groups, a member of two others, and recently selected to be a member of the IOCDF Board of Directors. As a lead advocate, Chris’s passions include expanding BDD awareness and education, addressing LGBTQ+ issues in mental health treatment, and expanding the IOCDF’s services to the young adult community.
This presentation will give a brief overview of the core features of compassion, how it is rooted in a particular evolved system with psychophysiological properties that are very useful for helping us with mental health difficulties. We will contrast that with the processes of harsh forms of self-criticism. A brief outline of some of the practises will be offered, and then depending upon volunteers from the audience, there will be a demonstration of how to bring compassion to one’s self-criticism. This will unfold in a series of stages. First we will begin to generate some concepts of a compassionate self. Then we will invite volunteers to explore the nature of their self critical process, and in particular how it functions for them and what would be their fear of giving it up. We then explore the critic in detail but only to the extent that people feel comfortable to do that. We see what sits behind the self critic the fear that it’s covering and then we bring compassion to that fear that sits behind or underneath the critic.
Paul Gilbert, FBPsS, PhD, OBE is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby and honorary visiting Prof at the University of Queensland. Until his retirement from the NHS in 2016 he was Consultant Clinical Psychologist for over 40 years. He has researched evolutionary approaches to psychopathology with a special focus on mood, shame and self-criticism in various mental health difficulties for which Compassion Focused Therapy was developed. He was made a Fellow of the British Psychological Society in 1993, president of the BABCP 2002-2004, and was a member of the first British Governments’ NICE guidelines for depression. He has written/edited 23 books and over 300 papers and book chapters. In 2006 he established the Compassionate Mind Foundation as an international charity with the mission statement: To promote wellbeing through the scientific understanding and application of compassion (www.compassionatemind.co.uk). There are now a number of sister foundations in other countries. He was awarded an OBE by the Queen in March 2011 for services to mental health. He established and is the Director of the Centre for Compassion Research and Training at Derby University UK. His latest book is a major edited book with Prof G Simos (2022) Compassion: Clinical practice and Applications (Routledge).
A key process in maintaining the preoccupation and distress of Body Dysmorphic Disorder is that of comparing one’s perceived defect(s) against another person’ feature(s) (usually of the same age and sex). It is made worse by frequent comparing against others on social media and the internet. This sets in train the ranking of one’s feature(s) as being uglier than the other person’s. It strengthens the view of the self to be defined by one’s features and leads to constant doubts of exactly how one looks and more checking in reflective surfaces. In this session we will explore the motivation behind comparing and whether it really works in your best interests. We will consider if comparing can ever be helpful, alternatives to comparing, and strategies that will help you break out of the pattern of behaviour.
David is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, where he directs a national specialist service for people with BDD & The Nightingale Hospital London in Marylebone. He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. He has co-authored a self-help book on Overcoming Body Image Problems including BDD and a treatment manual for BDD for professionals. He was a member of the World Health Organization’s International Advisory group for writing the new diagnostic criteria for OCD and related disorders such as BDD. He has been researching BDD for nearly 30 years and has published about 40 scientific and teaching articles in BDD. He was motivated to improve the care of people with BDD after the suicide of one of his in-patients with BDD in 1991. David is a long standing and highly valued Trustee of the BDD Foundation.
Dr Rob Willson PhD is a CBT therapist based in North London, with a special interest in BDD, OCD and Health Anxiety. He currently divides the majority of his work time between seeing patients, conducting research, writing and teaching. He is chair of the BDD Foundation. Rob has co-authored several books, including the bestselling ‘Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Dummies’ and ‘Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’. His main clinical interests are anxiety and obsessional problems, and disseminating CBT principles through self-help. He has featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles and had made several TV and radio appearances.
hosted by Alex Light joined by panellists Nicholas Mazzei, Jennifer Savin, Tilly Kaye and Prof David Veale
An explorative and insightful panel talk that will delve into the relationship between Fashion and BDD. Panellists discuss whether the way we market and sell fashion plays a role in the increasing prevalence of body dissatisfaction, with a conversation around the connections between consumerism, body image, and mental health. With insights around how clothing can sometimes become an unhelpful safety behaviour in BDD. We’ll hear from those with lived experience, to understand the reality of clothing related safety behaviours, and explore approaches which may help shift your relationship with fashion into a more empowering tool. With so much dialogue around the impact of filtered imagery in the current media, we’ll be exploring how this affects our mental health, and how filters might shape our self-perception. Crucially, we’ll be considering ways the fashion industry can be a catalyst for change, and the role of diversity and inclusion in reshaping the industry’s standards.
Alex Light is a body acceptance advocate, journalist, chart-topping podcast host and founder of Light LDN. After battling with eating disorders in her earlier life, Alex has successfully created a platform that encourages body acceptance and champions women’s unfiltered bodies. Her Sunday Times Bestseller ‘You Are Not A Before Picture’ has empowered women across the globe to talk about their struggles with body image whilst also encouraging self-love. Brands such as Gillette Venus, Dove and Ann Summers have joined Alex in her quest to tackle weight stigma and body acceptance. Alex’s journalism background and online profile have enabled her to raise awareness of body image’s impact on physical and mental health; in March 2022, she gave evidence at the House of Commons to improve NHS services for eating disorders. More recently, Alex co-hosts chart-topping podcast Should I Delete That, inviting experts to explore social media’s polarising daily conversations.
Nicholas Mazzei is an experienced social responsibility and sustainability leader, having worked in senior roles at BT, Rothschild and Co, Zalando and ASOS. Nicholas lives in East London, and focuses on helping make companies more responsible and purposeful actors, ensuring they develop policies and strategies which help them improve the communities and environments they operate in. Nicholas has a passion for physical wellbeing which is deeply connected to mental and emotional wellbeing. He’s worked with young offenders in London, helping them rebuild their lives and develop exciting careers.
Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK’s multiple award-winning Features Editor, who specialises in writing about issues most important to young women and investigative reports. She also heads up the Body content on the Cosmopolitan UK website, which includes mental health, body image, nutrition, fitness, pregnancy and more. Jennifer is an author, women’s rights campaigner and documentary consultant, most recently working on – and appearing in – BBC Three’s ‘Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?’.
Tilly Kaye is an East London based clothes maker for her own fledgling brand Fine Tilth, she has many years lived experience of BDD. Having dreamt of being a ‘fashion designer’ since she was a child, she started out her career in the mainstream fashion sector but was quickly disillusioned with the realities of the industry. After a few years she stepped back to explore an alternative route less at odds with her environmental concerns and worsening BDD. Alongside developing her own brand she works freelance with ethically driven organisations such as Fibreshed, Dirt, Katherine Hamnet, One Essentials and many others. She’s worked closely with All Walks Beyond the Catwalk during its time campaigning for more diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry, having grown up feeling extremely underrepresented in her own dream industry as a bi-racial child. Tilly recalls feelings of disgust and shame about her appearance as far back as her early teens. Diagnosed age 27 she has since worked hard to loosen its grip on her life, including a 16 week course of CBT for BDD, the 20 week Overcoming BDD programme with the BDDF as well as facilitating the most recent cycle of that programme. She has spoken in depth about her experiences on the BBC podcast Room 5 and more recently on the BDDF podcast Beating BDD.
Professor David Veale is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, where he directs a national specialist service for people with BDD & The Nightingale Hospital London in Marylebone. He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. He has co-authored a self-help book on Overcoming Body Image Problems including BDD and a treatment manual for BDD for professionals. He was a member of the World Health Organisation’s International Advisory group for writing the new diagnostic criteria for OCD and related disorders such as BDD. He has been researching BDD for nearly 30 years and has published about 40 scientific and teaching articles in BDD. He was motivated to improve the care of people with BDD after the suicide of one of his in-patients with BDD in 1991.
Danny is founder of Warpaint for Men, a men’s make up brand he founded due to his own experience of Body Dysmorphic Disorder and to help men with their self-confidence and mental health. BDD has been a part of Danny’s life since he was 12 after being bullied in school. Although this has shaped his life and still affects him to this day he wants to try and help others when it comes to the illness and spread awareness. Speaking about the BDD Foundation, Danny says, “The Foundation and the vital work they do sit very close to my heart, I understand the daily struggle of living with BDD. There’s isn’t enough awareness out there about BDD, so I’m eager to help and thankful to be a part of the Foundation’s important work”. He is the founder of JAAQ (just ask a question), an idea he had in response to the hundreds of people he gets contacting him looking for quality, accessible help on mental health. Danny is a passionate mental health advocate speaking to thousands of people every year.
