According to the Cleveland Clinic, body dysmorphia (also called body dysmorphic disorder) is a condition that causes you to analyze and critique your appearance unrealistically. Body dysmorphia leads individuals to hyper-fixate on perceived flaws to the point of negatively affecting their mental health and overall quality of life.
It’s a very common condition — affecting millions of men and women in the U.S. alone — that often carries comorbidities of depression, suicidal ideation, substance abuse, social anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Body dysmorphia can be caused by environmental factors like childhood abuse or bullying and popular media, genetics, or brain chemistry. That means no one is immune — not even superstars.
As Megan Fox explained to Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, “I don’t ever see myself the way other people see me. There was never a point in my life where I loved my body, ever. When I was little, that was an obsession I had — ‘Well, I should look this way.’ Why I had an awareness of my body that young, I’m not sure. It definitely wasn’t environmental because I grew up in a very religious environment where bodies weren’t even acknowledged.”
Post source: The List
