PHOTO BY N. NELSON VIA UNSPLASH 

Originally published January 21, 2025

   "Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) affects approximately 2% of the population and involves misperceived defects of appearance along with obsessive preoccupation and compulsive behaviors. The Website PubMed Central states, "There is evidence of neurobiological abnormalities associated with symptoms in BBD, although research is still limited."

   Body Dysmorphia is an issue that affects a large number of people all over the world, usually derived from social media. Its severity continues to build as generations pass and technology evolves. Body Dysmorphia can often alter the way people function in their daily life presenting issues,  "Body Dysmorphia can cause anxiety, difficulty concentrating in class, social isolation, being absent a lot, lower grades due to missing out on learning opportunities," eighth-grade counselor Mrs. Berg said. 

   Lots of MBMS students struggle with this issue, with over 52.38% of survey respondents having gone or are currently going through BDD. Symptoms can be easy to recognize and oftentimes with lots of effort can be treated. 

   "Thinking about the perceived defect for hours every day, worrying about their failure to match the ‘physical perfection’ of models and celebrities," The website,  BetterHealth.com states "...constantly asking trusted loved ones for reassurance about their looks, but not believing the answer constantly looking at their reflection or taking pains to avoid catching their reflection (for example, throwing away or covering up mirrors), constant dieting and overexercising."  

   Overall, social media can be very difficult for many students and teens in our current day and age. People looking for solutions could just end up finding more issues with themselves with constant waves of social media showing the "perfect" people. 

   "In my opinion, BDD's main cause is social media because there are photos out there with insanely hard or impossible beauty standards which pressures young girls and boys to stress if they are good enough and even harm themselves to achieve those unhealthy beauty standards," eighth-grader Sarai Martin said. "Another cause could be the people around you, maybe putting you down with negative comments about what you do in your daily life or your appearance. If it’s someone you care about, their opinion could genuinely count and take a toll on your self esteem and confidence in yourself."   

   It's important to raise awareness for all  the different derivations including the multiple different forms like body dysphoria for example. 

   "I have never suffered from body dysmorphia and I think I'm healthy and actually pretty good-looking, but I have always suffered from body dysphoria." Eighth-Grader Avan Shepard said,"It's basically a terrible feeling that your body isn't yours, and it's what sets transgender people apart from other people. It's like a different flavor of discomfort in one's body. It's the only sort of 'something about me is wrong/bad' type of mental health issue I've faced that can't be healed with lots of positive thinking, even over months or years... ouch."