Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Waid.
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And I'm Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Kayla is twenty four years old. She seems like a normal young woman. But she has very few friends and lives alone. Kayla has had six operations on her nose. Each operation was to give her nose a better shape. Because of these operations, Kayla and her father are in debt. They owe over sixty five thousand Great British Pounds [65,000 GBP] to doctors. And Kayla is planning yet ANOTHER operation for her nose.
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But there is nothing physically wrong with Kayla's nose. Anyone looking at her nose would probably say Kayla looked nice or pretty. But that is not what Kayla sees. Kayla believes there is something wrong with her nose. In fact, she believes her whole face is extremely ugly - that it looks bad. Kayla suffers from a mental problem called Body Dysmorphic Disorder, or B.D.D. Today's Spotlight is on this disorder.
Voice 1
Kayla's story was part of a BBC Reveals documentary on Body Dysmorphic Disorder. It was called "Too Ugly for Love." In the film, Kayla meets with the film maker. But she refuses to show her face to the camera. Instead she wears a hat that covers most of her face. She tells the film maker why she thinks her face is so ugly. She explains how as a child she hated how her teeth looked. So she used a tool to make them shorter. As an adult, Kayla refuses to go out of her house unless it is fully dark outside. These are all common behaviors for a person with B.D.D.
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Kayla also says she is obsessed with looking at herself in a glass mirror. She feels as if she MUST do it. She tells the film maker:
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"The mirror is the enemy, and maybe sometimes your best friend. The longest I have spent looking in the mirror is about ten hours. Sometimes when you look in the mirror you are screaming at yourself and crying. You say to yourself 'why can I not go out? Why do I have to look so ugly?'"
Voice 1
At some time in life, everyone around the world feels bad about their appearance or their body. There is probably something on YOUR body that you would like to change. Maybe you think your ears are too big, or your hair is the wrong color or thickness. These are common feelings. But people suffering from B.D.D. have these thoughts much more often than normal people.
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B.D.D. is different from these normal concerns about appearance in three ways. First, when a person has B.D.D. he or she becomes obsessed with a flaw, or problem on his or her body. Usually, other people cannot even see these flaws. The flaws are imagined. People with B.D.D. think about their imagined flaws for about three to eight hours EVERY DAY. They also feel as if they have no control over their thoughts about their appearance. They try to fix the imagined problem. For example, a person with B.D.D. may see a mark on his face. He may try to fix the mark by picking at his face with his fingers. As he continues to pick at his face, he is actually CREATING a mark where there was none before. But he feels that he cannot stop.
Voice 1
Second, B.D.D. sufferers have extreme stress over their appearance. They have so much stress that it often interferes with normal life activities. It may be too difficult to do simple things like have a job, go to school, take care of children, or even leave the house.
Voice 2
Finally, experts say a person has B.D.D. if no other condition can describe their actions and feelings. For example, a person may be obsessed with her weight. If she refuses to eat anything because she wants to lose weight, she may have a condition called anorexia. This is not B.D.D.
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There is not a lot of research about B.D.D. But experts estimate that about one to two percent of the global population suffers from the disorder. People from any country or culture can suffer from B.D.D. And the disorder affects men and women equally. The three most common areas that people with B.D.D. stress about are the hair, skin and nose.
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But IS B.D.D. a real disorder? Dr. Jamie D. Feusner studied the brain patterns of people with B.D.D. He discovered that the brain patterns of people WITH B.D.D. were different than brain patterns of people without the disorder. The results showed the patterns were different in one main area. This was the area where people process images they see. People with more severe B.D.D. showed bigger differences in their brain patterns.
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Many people try to treat B.D.D. themselves. They may use alcohol and illegal drugs. They hope these things will help them deal with the extreme stress of the disorder. Or, people with B.D.D. may try to solve their problems by getting plastic surgery. A doctor can reshape many parts of the body, including many parts of the face. But plastic surgery often makes the problem worse. The surgery may leave scars - permanent marks on the body. Getting surgery costs a lot of money. And often, the person with B.D.D. still sees the problem even after the surgery is done.
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But there are medical treatment options too. One treatment method involves changing the way a person thinks. A trained mental health doctor helps the sufferer think of themselves differently. A person with B.D.D. learns to see himself as a WHOLE person - not just a group of flaws.
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Another treatment method involves legal drugs. These drugs affect how the mind works. Serotonin is a substance that exists naturally in people's brains. A drug that increases serotonin can help a person feel better. Some people with B.D.D. have experienced success with using this drug. But it can take a long time to find the correct amount of the drug. And it can also take a few months for the drug to start working.
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Treatment for B.D.D. can be difficult. But treatment is important. And support from a person's family and friends is also important. It is easy to think a person with B.D.D. is just being difficult or feeling self-important. But B.D.D. is a real problem. And a person with B.D.D. needs help.
Voice 1
It can also be good to hear some words from the Christian Bible. In fact, these words can bring encouragement to anyone who has concerns about how they look. The Bible says that God created people in his own image. He created people to feel love, and to be a part of a community. Each person is created in the image of God. That means that EVERY person has worth, because God has given them worth. This is good news for anyone to hear.
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