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BDD BEHAVIOURS – DOCTOR SHOPPING

admin — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 17:07:52 +0000

Usually, the person wants reassurance from the doctor, but if he or she isn’t available, the office staff may be asked instead. One person was certain all the staff in her surgeon’s office thought she was “crazy.” “I go there all the time to ask if I look okay. They look the other way when they see me coming. I know I’m driving them out of their minds.”
Dwayne had seen 5 dentists, 4 dermatologists, and 16 plastic surgeons. He disliked “everything” about his appearance, which he described in the following way: “I must be an alien from another planet because I look so strange. I was totally obsessed with getting surgery. It’s all I talked about. My girlfriend threatened to leave me if I got it. None of the doctors wanted to treat me. The dentists said braces wouldn’t help me. One of the dermatologists said I should just wash my hair more. Fifteen surgeons refused to treat me because they said I looked fine. One of the surgeons said it was a good thing I didn’t have much money, because I’d be mutilated if I did. I finally got a nose job from one surgeon, but it didn’t make me look any better.”
Dwayne was so desperate for more surgery that he was thinking of going to another country where it would be easier to get it, or threatening suicide if a surgeon didn’t agree to do it. He was also considering getting into a car accident so he could destroy his face and have it completely reconstructed. “That way,” he said, “insurance would pay for it.”
Mac had been turned down for surgery many times because the surgeons said he looked fine. “But I kept going back to them, and going to new surgeons, trying to find one who would do it. I know when they saw me, they said, ‘Oh no, it’s him again!’” Finally, in desperation, Mac tried to break his nose with a hammer so a surgeon would agree to operate. As he explained, “That way, something would have to be done.”
A Japanese psychiatrist has referred to people with BDD who obtain repeated surgery as “polysurgery addicts.” This description fit a 52-year-old homemaker, who’d had 23 different surgical procedures. “I kept trying to make mvself look okay,” she told me. “I had surgery after surgery, but I was never really happy with the results. My solution was to get more! I was addicted to plastic surgery.”
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SOCIOCULTURAL THEORIES ABOUT BDD CAUSE: CULTURE INFLUENCE

admin — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:50:37 +0000

It’s clear that what’s considered beautiful does vary to some degree from culture to culture. Culture affects what’s considered the ideal—for example, plumpness or thinness—and this can change over time. Cultural preferences also influence whether a facial scar, for example, is considered ugly and defective or a sign of great beauty. Similarly, culture and societal values may shape the content of BDD concerns. You may recall that in my gender study and the one from Italy, men and women had generally similar BDD symptoms, but there were also some interesting differences, which might be explained by gender-related sociocultural values and pressures. In my study, men were more worried about their body build being too small and not muscular enough, whereas women worried more about being too big and fat. Men were more likely to camouflage with a hat (e.g., a baseball cap), whereas women more often covered up with makeup.

So the evidence seems to cut both ways. Both attractiveness research and BDD research suggest that there are many similarities across cultures, but that culture may shape appearance preferences and BDD symptoms in some ways. Certainly, we need more research on this very important issue. Yet another important question is whether culture can protect against, or even prevent, BDD’s development or expression. Might culture influence BDD severity—and even whether it’s expressed at all—in someone with the disorder? A woman in her late seventies described the following experience: “I’ve felt very ugly my entire life, ever since I was a child,” she said. “The only time during the past 70 years that I haven’t been preoccupied with how I look was for a couple of years when I lived in Fiji. Maybe it was because the culture was different. In that culture, whites were considered attractive and desirable. I wasn’t concerned at all when I was there.”

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SOCIOCULTURAL THEORIES ABOUT BDD CAUSE: CULTURE INFLUENCEIt’s clear that what’s considered beautiful does vary to some degree from culture to culture. Culture affects what’s considered the ideal—for example, plumpness or thinness—and this can change over time. Cultural preferences also influence whether a facial scar, for example, is considered ugly and defective or a sign of great beauty. Similarly, culture and societal values may shape the content of BDD concerns. You may recall that in my gender study and the one from Italy, men and women had generally similar BDD symptoms, but there were also some interesting differences, which might be explained by gender-related sociocultural values and pressures. In my study, men were more worried about their body build being too small and not muscular enough, whereas women worried more about being too big and fat. Men were more likely to camouflage with a hat (e.g., a baseball cap), whereas women more often covered up with makeup.So the evidence seems to cut both ways. Both attractiveness research and BDD research suggest that there are many similarities across cultures, but that culture may shape appearance preferences and BDD symptoms in some ways. Certainly, we need more research on this very important issue. Yet another important question is whether culture can protect against, or even prevent, BDD’s development or expression. Might culture influence BDD severity—and even whether it’s expressed at all—in someone with the disorder? A woman in her late seventies described the following experience: “I’ve felt very ugly my entire life, ever since I was a child,” she said. “The only time during the past 70 years that I haven’t been preoccupied with how I look was for a couple of years when I lived in Fiji. Maybe it was because the culture was different. In that culture, whites were considered attractive and desirable. I wasn’t concerned at all when I was there.”*196\204\8*

SLEEPING PILLS: BENZODIAZEPINE—THE ANSWER?

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:36:04 +0000

There are many reasons why benzodiazepine is so well received. The drug is significantly more safe than barbiturates. There are fewer cases of death from overdose, and the withdrawal symptoms are less dramatic than with barbiturates. It has both hypnotic and sedative properties, so, if you cannot sleep, take a pill; if you are under stress, take a pill; if you are tense, take a pill; and so on. Benzodiazepine became the solution to a lot of psychological problems. For a while it seemed that there was no need for psychologists or psychiatrists. Patients who normally saw an analyst daily felt that benzodiazepine had helped them. Benzodiazepine became the magic answer for us members of an increasingly busy and stressful world. The days of working on the farm, milking a few cows, and having an afternoon nap are disappearing fast. Society is becoming more and more competitive, and we are not well equipped to deal with this. Most doctors are not trained to sort out or help patients with problems of stress or insomnia, and their patients are too impatient to see doctors for lengthy counselling anyway. They want instead instant answers to their very complicated problems. Benzodiazepine seemed to be the answer.

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HELPFUL TRAINS OF THOUGHT FOR SELF-MANAGEMENT OF ANXIETY: EXPERIENCE THE FEELING OF LETTING GO, THE FEELING OF INNER STRENGTH AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-DISCIPLINE

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:26:04 +0000

Anxiety and nervous tension often make us restricted. We are tense, and we hold ourselves in check. We cannot let ourselves go. As a result of this we lose our normal freedom and ease of manner. It comes to affect us in all that we do, in our work, in our leisure, in our intimate life. We hold ourselves back, and try as we may, we cannot let ourselves go with the normal sense of freedom that we once enjoyed.

Relaxed.

I feel the relaxation.

Feel the muscles let go.

They let go all through me.

It is in my mind.

I let go.

The Feeling of Inner Strength-The effects of anxiety tend to destroy our morale. We may have had the condition a long time, and had treatment that has not helped us. We feel like giving in. But remember you can be promised at least some help from the practice of our relaxing mental exercises. So do not give up. When you are thoroughly relaxed, think along these lines:

Relaxed.

All my muscles relaxed.

The calm of it all through me.

I feel the calm and the ease.

The calm that gives me strength.

The inner strength.

I feel the inner strength.

Remember the importance of the prior relaxation and regression. This is the key which opens the door of our mind to such ideas.

The Development of Self-Discipline-The way back to health from nervous illness always demands a fair degree of self-discipline. Some conditions require more, some less; and some of us find self-discipline easier than others. But we all need it for the struggle ahead, and we can help ourselves like this:

Relaxed.

Relaxed and calm.

The calm that gives us the strength.

The inner strength.

The strength to do what we have to do.

We can proceed further along these lines:

The inner strength.

It is calm strength.

Easy strength.

Easier and easier to be strong.

This of course is absolutely true. At first self-discipline is difficult, very difficult; but as we practise it more and more, it becomes easier and easier.

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