What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD, and does it apply to anorexics?

What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD, and does it apply to anorexics?

Body Dysmorphic Disorder is actually an anxiety disorder. It doesn't even come in the category of eating disorders in our manual. It is an anxiety disorder where what the person does is they focus on a certain body part and see a defect in that body part. So where BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) correlates with eating disorders is that some of our patients with eating disorders will perceive their stomachs as being bigger than they really are. So that is where it becomes BDD. Typical BDD would be "Oh my god, my thighs are too big. I need to to get liposuction for my thighs." It could be "I need my ears fixed," or "My breasts are too small and I need them larger." They just focus in on a certain body part, and no matter how much correction they do of that body part, it just doesn't feel good enough. So where, again, it shows up with eating disorders is somebody could go on a diet and lose weight, but no matter how much weight they loose it just still isn't good enough. So that's why with eating disorders we do have an anxiety component with them, so typically we do treat the anxiety that comes along with eating disorders, because BDD is more an anxiety disorder that overlaps with anorexia.