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I am the woman who passes a mirror and shifts her gaze away. I am the woman who wears oversized clothing to mask the extra 20 or 30 pounds of weight that don't register on my scale. I am the woman who takes the picture rather than appear in the photograph. I am the woman who has had her eyes done, face lifted, collagen and Botox — more than once.
I am the woman who has body dysmorphic disorder.
Body dysmorphic disorder takes quiet toll on life
Seeded on Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:40 PM EST
Article Source: The L.A. Times
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- Public Discussion (7)
How much of this comes from childhood pressure, how much comes from society, how much comes from Photoshopping, how much is just a plain psychological disorder.
I know from personal experience my mother was always critical of my appearance. Whether it was my weight, my posture, the clothes I was wearing, how my collar was curled back, and even as a adult would "excuse me to others" with "I've never seen her like that; she doesn't usually wear her hair like that, she usually dresses differently."
When I was married I would pick out a woman in front of us when we were walking, and ask my husband "is that about my size" I asked the question in all seriousness. He would tell me the woman weighed at least 20 pounds more than I did. To this day, when someone tells me I'm tiny, I have the feeling that they don't have a clue....sad....I look back at pictures I hated when I was younger, and think...."you know I was really pretty"
- 4 votes
#1 - Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:49 PM EST
I was wearing a size 4 at the time, and my mother's rational she explained when I was older was that she was wanting me to strive to do better.
Parents if you have young children, don't tear them down because they believe what they're told. I don't advocate trying to "build a child's self esteem" by telling them that everything they do is excellent, because that doesn't give them a sense of reality either. We can go overboard in both directions. Hopefully not many people will come on this seed, because it's confession time, so maybe it will just be my friends that follow me. :)
- 5 votes
I've had some trouble getting my brain to readjust to my new size. I've lost over 70lbs in the last 4 years and I am SHOCKED when I see my reflection in a mirror when I'm out shopping. I can't believe i look that thin. I try to see someone else's reflection in the mirror...to see if it is one of those trick mirrors what makes you look thinner. I still have 20-30 lbs to lose...and I think my brain will catch up eventually. Some days I still think I look really fat, and other days I think I look pretty great. I was overweight all my life, so being near normal weight is very confusing for my brain...it has long since adjusted to me being a large person. Hopefully my problem is temporary.
I'm sorry you had such a rough time of it as a child. My parents didn't pick on me too much for being a fat little kid (back in the 70's when kids were all skinny), but several adults, including a doctor, were very mean to me. It really hurt my self esteem while I was growing up.
Congratulations for the weight loss!...Wow...was there a new motivation?
Yes, it will to take time for your brain to catch up...I'm not sure mine ever has fully.
#2 - Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:04 PM ESTYes, I had high blood pressure and I was only 35!! I had always disliked being fat because it looked bad....but then it started trying to kill me! Now my blood pressure is normal and all my blood tests are great (cholesterol, cardio CRP, glucose, etc). Basically I got "scared straight" by the threat of illness and early death (high blood pressure kills a lot of people on my father's side of the family).
Good call....fortunately you didn't ignore it. Too many people do.
- 1 vote
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