Empower BDD Patients Through Art

Leigh de Vries was born with amblyopia (a lazy eye) and has suffered from a very distorted self-image for her whole life. Eye contact is one of our most important and primitive means of communication. Can you imagine what will be like not being able to look at others in the eye? Especially when she grew older, she became more and more isolated because of it. Her consciousness of being different realised in an obsession with her appearance. Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) started when she was in adolescence and slowly took its hold. Even though she had her eye corrected operation, thoughts of her “horrific self” continued to annoy her on a daily basis.

She is a musician and artist who has been upset with constant worries and negative thoughts about her appearance since she was a teenager. Because of her BDD problem, it did affect her on multiple levels before going on the video shoot, photo shoot and studio and she isolated herself in her house for few months as she was afraid to make contact with anyone. It then came to her mind: “don’t I express this through my art?” As an artist, she realised she couldn’t maintain her life being directed by this disorder. She wanted to put out how she wanted the world to see her by channelling her inner fear and obsessions as the raw material and turned them into remarkable pieces of film and photography. She came up with an idea called Exposure-The Broken Reality Tunnel which is a walk-in video and audio connection locating in a two-room box.

In the rooms, two videos will be playing of Leigh walking around Manchester town centre and wearing a prosthetic face piece. The two videos are linked up by the dark tunnels where the voices of Leigh and other BDD patients talking about their conditions. This piece desires to showcase exactly what is like to be trapped within BDD patient’s own thought. Leigh clarified that she wanted to achieve and expect the overall outcome was to create the “monster” she perceived herself to be physically wearing it in public. She wanted to create some fixing in her mind by having the actual experience.

She believes:

When we have something in our mind, versus the physical, the version in your mind is way worse. I imagined I looked like someone with Elephantitis, with huge growths coming out of my face and body. The closest we got was a huge tumour growing out of my face. I had the idea to work with secret cameras – I wanted to capture my own journey of isolation but also make a social commentary on how people react to people with deformities.

Leigh has used her passion for the arts to combat her condition and tried to contact with other BDD patients in order to fully portray exactly what living with BDD feels like. She also pointed out that this artwork could serve to control over her BDD and allow other BDD patients to come forward and talk about their condition that they could also find comfort and support in the artwork. The artwork could create relief for her that made her feeling beautiful in that way and reveal her darkest secret. It was a compassionate way to not feel ashamed and be proud of herself. She is now being able to feel closer to people.

She wants to use her work to help others and gets involved in outreach programmes, especially the adolescences. She has also worked with the Body Dismorphia Disorder Foundation and contacted with other BDD patients through social media. Using art therapy to show us that we are not alone. Her artwork can also convert a message that art doesn’t have to be conventionally pretty to be beautiful and neither do we.

BDD can force people into an extremely dark place. Letting them know that they are not alone is very crucial to feel supported. Leigh de Vries has not only raised her voice about her experiences with BDD but through her amazing work which shows that pretty doesn’t always mean beautiful.

Check out the Exposure: The Broken Reality Tunnel of Body Dysmorphic Disorder Trailer :

 

References:

Armitage, S. 2016, ‘This Is What It’s Like Living With Body Dysmorphic Disorder’, Viral Thread, viewed 21 September, 2016, <http://www.viralthread.com/this-is-what-its-like-living-with-body-dysmorphic-disorder/ >

Berner, S. 2015, ‘What’s it really like living with Body Dysmorphic Disorder?’, Dazed, viewed 21 September, 2016, <http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/26772/1/what-s-it-really-like-living-with-body-dysmorphic-disorder >

 

What Is It Really Like Living With Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

Many people have never heard of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and most psychologists had never heard of it until the 1900s. It doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist and it was first recorded in 1891. People with BDD spend every day to believe they look and appear more distorted than they really do. When the anxiety of their appearance builds, it becomes a devastating panic. In some extreme case, they may physically hurt their bodies to improve the flaws they believe have. This disorder can destroy live that like any other mental disorder. Therefore, it is critical for the public to be completely aware of the facts surrounding BDD.

I believe we should take an important step toward understanding more about what the people with BDD see and feel when they look at their own appearance or reflections.

Lauren Keith who is 26 and suffers from BDD that causes her having a highly distorted view of how she looks at herself. For her, a horrifying notion is a daily reality. It is like there is a voice in her mind repeatedly telling her that she is ugly and worthless. Whenever she is looking into the mirror, she sees a monster looking back at her and the image is so horrible that makes her physically sick. This damaging mental illness has immersed in her life for more than a decade. She even tried to research surgery to ‘improve’ herself. BDD had caused her to have depression and a high anxiety that led her to escape from society. She has battled BDD for years and she was diagnosed with BDD when she was 15. She began to obsessively fixate over what she saw as major flaws on her body and face to the extent that the way she led her life was severely damaged. Most of the BDD patients focus on fixating about certain features but for her, it was everything about her appearance. She believed she was ugly and had a sense of shame around on her shoulders like a despicable secret. Hopeless was what she always thought of that she had nothing to offer the world and redeem features to defeat her physical flaws.

Make-up was her protective barrier that could convince herself that she could look normal like everyone else. She revealed that she never wanted to take off her make-up. She stopped to go swimming and ensured that she never wore anything could show her body shape. One time, she even wore a winter coat in Spain on a family vacation. Things got worse when she had her public exam. She hid completely away from social events. She stopped to stay around friend’s houses as she was afraid people would ask why she had make-up on before bed. It had really made her mum very sad. But her mum always put on a brave face for her and supported her as best she could, including giving her heart and ears to listen and feel her daughter.

Lauren’s condition started to improve when she began her part-time job in a shop and started to make some new friends that forced her to be sociable and smiley. It made her behave to be like a ‘normal’ teenager to have fun and meet people. She is now managed to devil voice telling her that she is ugly with a support of a child counselor. She is acknowledged to listen for a short and do her own things. She is now an advocate for being open about the mental health issues and self-esteem issues and taking a wholesome approach to her wellbeing. It is important for people to be more aware of how others are feeling and work on being supportive and compassionate.

Lauren’s journey has allowed her to see beauty is just a little thing that life made up of. What is really important? Our inner quality!!! I am sure it is a hard time for people with BDD to get through. Telling people about BDD’s real life stories and experiences like Lauren’s can help others to get through and deal with this problem. She acknowledges us to not just concern so much about our face and appearance but to see all the wonderful thing that we have done and become. Healthy eating, filling time with people that we love and challenging ourselves at work and believing how we can be more selfless and mindful are the things that people can do to make progress over the years with BDD.

Let’s spread positivity through Social Media

‘Distorted’, ‘unrealistic’ and ‘harmful’ are the words that are always used to describe the beauty standard of the old days. It is uplifting that there is a transformation of how social media is changing those beauty standards for better. Although social media can generate adverse side effects, it has given a voice to those that were once voiceless such as models, stylists and makeup artists. It has opened the doors of the fashion industry and beauty by allowing regular women to express their creativity, gain followers and spread positive. It has also developed more channels of communication as we meet and connect with people in different countries, living different lifestyles and with varying interests, thus giving us daily inspiration for our lives. I believe social media is very potential to revolutionise the beauty game.

Nowadays, social media has given us the ability to reach a global audience and have increased the average user’s means to persuade and influence. We are no longer just the passive consumers of media but become content creators, distributors and opinion makers. The young social media stars can have a louder voice than the CEO of a company. Their single tweet, Instagram post and videos can go viral, arousing changes at the top in a matter of hours.

For those in the fashion industry, Instagram has the power to influence and the number of followers a model has to allow them becoming one of the biggest influencers among the younger generations. Instagram does provide some of the major inspiration and it is one of the primary reason we are so into social networking site. It empowers us to connect with people in different countries, if only through photos and find daily inspiration in beauty. Social media can be a valuable resource that can inspire people.

I found a very inspiring story in the fashion and modeling industry of how Winnie Harlow, also known as Chantelle Brown-Young utilizing her social media platforms to spread messages of body positivity and highlight issues like racial inequality in the beauty industry. She found fame after having her selfies discovered on social media. She is a runway queen who is influenced by the walk of Naomi Campbell and the icon of Marilyn Monroe. She is also a former contestant on US reality show ANTM, the new face and the in-demand model, booking runway shows of many designer brands. Her skin condition has made her career and becomes a symbol for diversification and progression. She is now an inspiring supermodel who suffers from a skin condition called vitiligo. Winnie has garnered an Instagram following of 1.2M and spoken openly about how difficult it was for her to gain acceptance growing up. But now she is proud of the unique way she looks and always encourages others to feel the same way on social media platforms.

Winnie has partnered with Dove’s campaign #MyBeautyMySay to garner conversations around women’s accomplishments – ‘not just appearance.’ Harlow attributes her start in modeling to social media and also advises young people not to be afraid to put themselves out there instead of making their own views of themselves the utmost priority. She said that she enjoys people getting inspiration from her. When she was up for a Teen Choice Award for Choice Model, she revealed that she wants to be seen as an inspiration than a role model. She enjoys people getting inspiration from her. There is an inspirational quote from her, saying

“But I think making your opinion more important to you than others’ opinions are to you, that’s the most important thing — I don’t care if you think I’m beautiful, I think I’m beautiful.”

The best advice she has given to the young people is that it is important to have perspective, surrounding ourselves with supportive people and a greater sense of self-talk and self-love. We should be kinder to ourselves and remind ourselves about the positive trait then that’s a good thing because we all know we can hear ten positive things and one negative and it’s the negative thing that sticks. Gracing the covers of magazines, she has come a long way from being bullied out of high school and acts an inspiration to women all across the globe. I am sure there are people with BDD or having body image problem can be inspired by Winnie’s story and encouraged to be more accepting who they are and staying positive regarding their bodies.

 

BDD caused by bullying?

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is more common in people who have experienced teasing or bullying. BDD is a type of chronic metal illness that a person can’t stop thinking about a flaw in appearance. It can be an imagined or just a minor flaw in appearance. Generally, people are feeling most sensitive about their appearance through young adulthood and adolescence. As they might be bullied about a character trait, it can trigger sensitivity or hyper focus. Among all the psychological illness that can be caused bullying, Body Dysmorphic Disorder is one of the most common and the more dangerous psychological disorders that can develop. Bullying can cause Body Dysmorphic Disorder and its damage can be distressed, especially in adolescence and when focused on appearance. It can create a distortion in self-perception.

The symptoms of BDD often start in adolescence. There is a story of Minnie Wright who has suffered from BDD for most of her life. She revealed that the symptoms of BDD started when she was 11 after experiencing bullying at school. Since then she focused a lot on the size of her nose, she emphasised on applying ‘shading’ make-up and hold her head in a certain way to avoid exposing her nose in profile. She even tried to cure her “perceived imperfection” with plastic surgery to get a nose job done privately on her 18^th birthday. It could just make her temperately feeling better but soon she was unhappy again with her appearance. Later, Minnie shifted her unhappiness with her hair and the symptoms became immobilized and she wanted to commit suicide.

Another story is about a fashion student, Cassi Jones who was diagnosed with BDD and it started when she was bullied about her appearance at the age of 11. She got called names at school and has grown up incapable of believing herself is beautiful. When she was 11, she started to being bullied by other girls teasing she looked like an alien and many other hurtful things at school. After that, by the time she was 13, she was obsessed with mirrors. She pull different faces, examine herself and eat in front of the mirror to watch herself and looked how her face can be in different angles. She became very anxious when she couldn’t get to a mirror and had a difficult time at school. Sometimes, she felt very guilty when she saw people who are disabled or have scars on their face that she was afraid she looked much worse than these people. It’s not the fact that she wanted the attention or she was vain and it’s just the opposite. She got nervous to explain what she doesn’t like about herself as she was scared pointing out her flaws will just make others to notice more of her flaws. In her mind, she believed her nose has a bump and turned up like a ski slope. Also, she didn’t like the proportion of her facial features as she thought her lips are too big, her eyes are too wide apart, and her chin is too pointy. And She had to wear a fringe to cover my forehead and having her make-up done in front of a mirror for having an achievement for her.

How to combat bullying and the negative thoughts?

The relationship between BDD and bullying is one which can be can be prevented and reduced through education and treatment. Embarrassment and shame always restrain individuals who have experienced bullying from seeking help. Once healing steps are taken into action to reform healthy and positive ways of thinking. The result is terrific. One easy way to start is to stop critical self-talk and shatter the damages of bullying by dealing with your inner adversary and challenging the negative beliefs you still hold on to. We need to model positive self-acceptance for the younger generations and ourselves. More importantly, if you or someone you love is sufferer of bullying, don’t hesitate to seek help and overcome the criticism to find confidence again in order to prevent them ruin your life.

References:

Langlois,C. 2014, ‘What Childhood Bullying Does To Your Body Image Later In Life’, Mind Body Green, viewed 12 September 2016, < http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16233/what-childhood-bullying-does-to-your-body-image-later-in-life.html >

Stocks, J. 2009, ‘Four beautiful women – and four startling images that show how THEY see themselves’, Dailymail, viewed 12 September 2016, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/beauty/article-1195336/Body-dysmorphic-disorder-Four-beautiful-women-distorted-way-THEY-themselves.html >