 What is body dysmorphic disorder? In this video, we're going to talk about the four key symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder. So make sure that you stay tuned. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And welcome back to another video where this week I have dedicated the week to teaching all of you more about different mental illnesses and disorders. So you might be able to see if you have some of the symptoms or maybe somebody you know needs some help. Now before I get started with this video, go ahead and follow me on Instagram at the Rewired Soul. I just put this post up right here and I want to hear from all of you. What mental illness? Which disorder would you like to learn more about? Because tomorrow for Friday's video I'm going to pick one of them and I will break it down and educate you as well as the entire audience about what this disorder is. So again, make sure you go follow me on Instagram at the Rewired Soul. Leave a comment and let me know which disorder you would like to learn more about. All right. So today again, we're going to be talking about body dysmorphic disorder and we're going to be going out of the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. All right. This is the book that doctors, mental health professionals, all of them, they go out of this book to diagnose different mental illnesses. But before we get started, the disclaimer, okay? I'm not a doctor. I'm not a therapist. I cannot diagnose you through this camera. Chances are if you're watching this, you're not a doctor or therapist either. All right. So if you identify with these symptoms, make sure that you seek help. See your doctor, see your therapist. You should never, ever, ever diagnose yourself. Okay. One of the worst things that you can do. All right. And if you do not have a therapist, go ahead and check out the description below for the link to BetterHelp. BetterHelp is online therapy. It's very affordable. They have a sliding scale. So depending on how much money you make, it can be pretty inexpensive. All right. All you got to do is just go in there, fill out a questionnaire and they will match you up with a licensed therapist who can help you improve your mental health, help diagnose you and see which kind of disorder you're struggling with. So if you need that information, go ahead and click on the link down below in the description. All right. But let's get started and let's talk about the four major symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder. Okay. Symptom number one. A preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance that are not observable or appear slight to others. So this is when you're really harsh on certain features of your body. Okay. And it's not just like being like, oh, like fishing for compliments. Like, oh, you know, I'm so fat. My hips are wide or my nose is this or my face is this. Like these are things that the average person wouldn't notice. Like nobody else notices it. So one of the ways that you could tell if you're struggling with this symptom is like, does anybody agree with you? Does anybody, you know, and like, again, like when you have a support group that you can trust when people tell you the truth, like don't let you know. Like, yeah, you can stand to lose a few pounds. But if you're somebody who is thin and you're saying you're too fat, like this might be a key sign because something that you're noticing as some major flaw with you, whether it's weight or whether it's physical appearance or whatever it is, this might be a symptom if nobody else recognizes it except for you. Symptom number two. At some point during the course of the disorder, the individual has performed repetitive behaviors. For example, mirror checking, excessive grooming, skin picking, reassurance seeking, or mental acts. These mental acts can include comparing his or her appearance with that of others in response to the appearance concerns. So this is where this is almost like an obsessive behavior, okay? This is where it's constantly on your mind and it can trigger stress. It can trigger anxiety. When you go out in public, your brain is racing. Like are people noticing this about me? Is this what they're noticing, right? And in this instance, this symptom, you might be seeking the approval for others and you might be asking other people like, does this look bad? Does this look bad? Does this look bad? But like even if they tell you it doesn't, you don't believe them, okay? That's how it kind of ties in with that first symptom. All right? So are you getting anxious about your appearance which other people aren't really noticing? Symptom number three. The preoccupation causes clinically significant distress or impairment, social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. So this is the real struggle of mental illness. Like is it hindering your quality of life, right? Are you afraid to go out because of your appearance, because of the way you perceive yourself? Does it stress you out just thinking about being in social situations because of these perceived flaws with your body? Is it causing you to have issues at work? Is it causing you to have issues with your social life and things like that? Is your life being affected by how much you obsess on these perceived flaws that you have with yourself? All right. And the last and final symptom, symptom number four. The appearance preoccupation is not better explained by concerns with body fat or weight in an individual whose symptoms meet diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder. So what this means is, and this is why you work with a professional and don't diagnose yourself, is if you struggle with bulimia or like anorexia or other eating disorders, like those eating disorders can have body dysmorphic disorder in them, but body dysmorphic disorder cannot have those in them, if that makes sense. So if your diagnosis can be explained by a different eating disorder, then you wouldn't be diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder. You might be diagnosed with like anorexia nervosa or bulimia or something like that. All right. So that's what makes this last symptom something that helps psychiatrists, therapists, doctors really diagnose you and get down to the real deal. Okay. So anyways, those are the four symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder. So if you could relate to this or you think somebody might be struggling with this and they kind of need a better explanation and be like, oh, okay. Like, yeah, this sounds like my friend or this sounds like my family member. Please do me a favor and share this video or just share it on social media so more people are educated and maybe somebody might stumble across this video and go get the help that they need. All right. But anyways, again, I'll repeat it. Go follow me at the Rewire Soul on Instagram. I've presented it here again because I love you so, so much. And I just made a post. So leave comments on that post and let me know which mental health disorder you would like me to cover for Friday's video. This is something I want to do. I want to get all of you, all of you beautiful people more involved. Like I make videos for you so I need to know what you're interested in. So one of the ways that we can kind of gauge is whichever comments get the most likes. Like if you see somebody else post something and you like the idea of me making that video, go ahead and like their post so I know which posts have the most likes, which ones are the most popular, and then I can make a video on it. All right. So thank you so, so much for watching. And again, I have a link down to Better Help below if you would like to work with a therapist. And if you are new here, I'm always making videos to help you out with your mental health. So make sure you click that little round subscribe button and a huge, huge, huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. And if you would like to help support what I'm doing here, you can go ahead and click or tap on that Patreon icon right there. All right. So thank you so, so much for watching. Go get diagnosed and I will see you next time.