BDD BEHAVIOURS – DIETING
While dieting is a common behavior, as well as a feature of eating disorders, it can also be a symptom of BDD. I first became aware of this when reading about BDD before I’d begun my own research. I found the published case of a young man from Germany who thought his cheeks were too “rosy and round”; to make them thinner, he severely starved himself. Since then, I’ve seen peoplewho’ve dieted for similar reasons. One young man severely starved himself in the hope that losing large amounts of weight would erase wrinkles from his face. Another lost 30 pounds to make his face less wide. Other people with BDD diet for more conventional reasons. They try to flatten their stomach or slim their thighs or calves. Some people avoid salty foods or take water pills to decrease eye puffmess, stomach bloating, or facial swelling. Others eat special diets—for example, avoiding chocolate or greasy foods, or taking herbal supplements—trying to make their skin clear. One man I treated went from 160 to 120 pounds because he worried his skin would break out if he ate anything greasy or oily; in fact, he avoided most foods. After treatment with Prozac, his skin worries disappeared and his weight became normal again. Men who think their body is too small may eat high-protein low-fat diets to become larger. One man who did this, however, didn’t allow himself to get too large and muscular because he feared that compared to the rest of his body, his penis would look too small.*109\204\8*
Random Posts
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.