How can cognitive therapy help me overcome BDD?
The thing about cognitive behavioral therapy that makes it different that helps people with BDD I think, is that it is not just about talking about it. It is actually about actively doing something to change the way you think and change your behavior. And so cognitive behavioral therapy is really successful when the person is doing homework. They have got to be doing some work on their own between sessions to everyday practice restructuring their thoughts because these things don't change quickly. One has to keep practicing doing them. Some of the tools that we use cognitively are number 1 to help them even identify where are some of these thoughts. In identifying them they are able to take a step back and observe how they are thinking rather than just being awash in their thoughts like their reality. And so taking a step back and saying, "I am thinking I am not feeling attractive today. Is that reality or is that my thought?" Just being able to identify and then identify whether there is some dysfunction thinking like, for example, wow that's a very all in one way of looking at it. People are either gorgeous or they are ugly. What about everybody in between. Identifying what kind of distortion they are thinking they are having and then coming up with an alternative thought like what is more rational. What's more rational is I may not be the most attractive person in the world. I am somewhat in the middle. I am certainly not the least attractive person in the world.
