“Try working at being so assured with who you are that you don’t care if others look up to you, because you’re being you – and that’s okay.”
George suffered for a long time with a form of BDD known as muscle dysmorphia, muscle dysmorphic disorder or “bigorexia”. The condition, which he calls “muscularity-oriented issues”, brings its own challenges in terms of social stigma as well as diagnosis and treatment. George shares his lived experience, dips into the huge amount of knowledge he’s gained and explains why he’s made it his life’s work to raise awareness and improve treatment of these issues.
You can download the transcript for this episode here:
We are excited to announce Charlie King as an ambassador for the BDD Foundation, alongside the launch of a ‘By Charles King’ t-shirt with proceeds going directly to the BDD Foundation.
Meet our new Ambassador – Charlie King:
In 2021 media personality Charlie King announced on national television his struggle with BDD. From the start of his career in reality TV to a celebrity fitness trainer he has felt personal struggle increase due to media pressure. During the pandemic this intensified resulting in him undergoing cosmetic surgery (rhinoplasty) which incurred complications causing his BDD to spiral. The response to this interview on Channel 4 was overwhelming and highlighting that this is a condition which a lot of people are still naive to, especially men. The BDD Foundation continue to support Charlie and many others without government funding, so using his platform and story Charlie wants to assist in raising awareness and money for the charity.
By Charles King x BDDF
Charlie has his own clothing line: By Charles King and he has kindly designed and produced an exclusive t-shirt with all proceeds going to the BDD Foundation.
By Charles King began with the intention to create pieces that you can wear and feel happy and proud to simply be yourself. With social media hashtags such as #ownyourcrown and #sharethelove we have seen customers relate and purchase all over the globe.
The design :
With the pressures of looking perfect on social media and with the use of filters it is very easy to lose sight of self-love. The t-shirt was designed by a 12 year old girl who was starting to question and not identify with what is looking back at her in the mirror. This was her first impression of what BDD Foundation does for this condition, cleverly using the logo with a heart felt image.
100% of profits on all t-shirts sold will go to BDD Foundation.
Raising awareness and understanding of the condition is extremely important to Charlie, due to his own experiences. This collaboration is very much aligned with the brand ethos. Through the sale of this t-shirt, we want people to learn about the condition as well as the help and support available to anyone affected by BDD through the work that the Foundation does.
Charlie is very aware that social media and reality TV photo editing can create a false idea of reality which can be very unhealthy. From Charlie’s own experience and feeling the pressures himself, this is exactly why By Charles King was founded. By Charles King is a fashion brand which is inclusive, celebrates all walks of life, and is transparent with their customers. All we want is to make people feel empowered while wearing our pieces, and our duty of care as a brand is to make conscious decisions when it comes to photography, marketing, representation, and even product. We want to create accessible aspiration, not unobtainable aspirations.
We are excited to announce Charlie King as an ambassador for the BDD Foundation, alongside the launch of a ‘By Charles King’ t-shirt with proceeds going directly to the BDD Foundation.
King’s College London aims to find out whether people with BDD think using Virtual Reality (VR) in treatment would be useful, whether they have concerns with such methods, and the effects of specific VR features on treatment. The information gathered will go towards investigating new treatment pathways and improving existing treatments for BDD.
You can take part in this study if:
You have had CBT for BDD
You are over the age of 18
You are fluent in English
What will you be asked to do?
If you choose to take part in this study, King’s College will invite you to a focus group with a small number of people who have BDD. You will be asked to discuss your thoughts and opinions with other participants on questions asked by the research team. The focus group session will last up to an hour and will be online on Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
If you are interested in participating and would like to find out more about the study, please contact the team using the contact form:
We are excited to announce Charlie King as an ambassador for the BDD Foundation, alongside the launch of a ‘By Charles King’ t-shirt with proceeds going directly to the BDD Foundation.
The article covers the signs and symptoms of BDD, the experience of living with the condition, treatment, recovery and how to access help via the Foundation.
Dr Rob Willson, Chairman of the BDD Foundation shares his expertise:
Explaining the first signs and symptoms of BDD to look out for, Dr Willson tells us they usually see the “person spending more and more time thinking about, being distressed about and carrying out behaviours related to their appearance.”
Kitty Wallace, Head of Operations, shares her experiences:
From the moment I woke up, to the moment I went to sleep, my mind whirred with the same thoughts over and over. I worried that people would judge me for how I looked, but I was equally as worried that they were judging me because I cared about how I looked. I really couldn’t win. Some days the thoughts were so overpowering, I couldn’t leave the house. Everyone around me just thought I was going through a phase. Something I’d grow out of. I didn’t.”
We are excited to announce Charlie King as an ambassador for the BDD Foundation, alongside the launch of a ‘By Charles King’ t-shirt with proceeds going directly to the BDD Foundation.
MPs are examining the relationship between people’s perception of their body image and their physical and mental health. They will consider how far people’s perception of body image can hinder access to NHS services and whether NHS training and Government messaging should be altered.
As a charity we are incredibly supportiveof this inquiry and we believe it could be the start of real change.
We are proud to say that two individuals associated with the BDD Foundation provided witness evidence for this inquiry.
KimBooker has bravely shared her experience of Body Dysmorphic Disorder and how idealised images in the media as well as cosmetic treatments have played a part in the development and maintenance of her BDD
Dr Georgina Krebs, who is an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor of Young People’s Mental Health and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, at University College London. She speaks on eating disorders and Body Dysmorphic Disorder including Muscle Dysmorphia in her evidence.
Watch her evidence here (go to around 10:47 minutes)
Nyome Nicholas who was involved in our Monki campaign on Selfie Love and petition calling for transparency on altered images online, James McVey from the band the Vamps and others also gave evidence on this.
We are excited to announce Charlie King as an ambassador for the BDD Foundation, alongside the launch of a ‘By Charles King’ t-shirt with proceeds going directly to the BDD Foundation.
Danny told how a crippling mental health issue caused him to drop out of school and become housebound for several months as he was convinced he looked like a ‘monster’.
The condition caused him to perform a number of daily rituals, including scrubbing his skin, spending hours in front of the mirror and taking endless photos of himself in an attempt to look perfect.
Danny, who is now studying towards a PhD in mental health policy, told the Mirror: “I couldn’t leave the house because I was worried that people would be terrified of me, and that prevented me from engaging in anything.“
“Because I was a man, I didn’t think I could suffer from a body image disorder. But I’m lucky that I got the help I did when I did. It enabled me to get my life back”
Danny believes that the lack of awareness around BDD has also led to an increase in common misconceptions – the main one being that the condition is born from vanity.
34-year-old Kitty Wallace, who developed BDD in her late teens and since turned her struggle towards campaigning as Head of Operations at the BDD Foundation, said that the condition dictated every decision and movement she made growing up.
“I would spend eight hours trying to get ready, and still wouldn’t feel like I could leave the house and be seen. I felt so grotesque, so unusual. It was really scary.”
On the BDD Foundation Kitty explained that “we’ve got people visiting our website from all over the world because we are the only charity and website fully dedicated to it.”
Kitty points to the importance of specialised treatment for those who are diagnosed with BDD.
“The recommended treatment for BDD is specialised cognitive behavioural therapy. The reason I highlight specialised therapy is that a lot of people are just referred for generalised CBT for anxiety or depression.”
My name is Elias Marchetti, I’m 21 years old and now at university studying oceanography: I love the ocean, having been an avid sailor for over ten years now. My favourite hobbies are watching movies, photography, hanging out with friends — and playing fetch with my dogs! CBT — Cognitive Behavioural Therapy — is an essential tool for overcoming OCD and BDD. While it may seem daunting at first, it really is an incredible help to being able to return to living life to the fullest. CBT changed my life for the better and really allowed me to be the person I was before having BDD and OCD. Living the exposure life by pushing yourself and doing exposures whenever you can is an amazing way to keeping healthy and free of BDD and OCD.
Georgina is an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor of Young People’s Mental Health and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, at University College London. Her research interests include developing novel, evidence-based methods for delivering cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in young people, and understanding factors that interfere with recovery in order to inform the development of new treatment approaches.
Body dysmorphic disorder shares many features with eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa. Previous research has found that people with anorexia nervosa show a tendency to focus on detailed features within visual images, and this means that they sometimes struggle to see ‘the bigger picture’. This is an important issue because a detailed-focussed processing style could fuel appearance concerns and poor body image. In this talk I will summarise our recent research looking at whether body dysmorphic disorder, like anorexia nervosa, is linked with this detailed-processing style. I will also discuss potential implications for treatment and recovery.
Dr. Phillips is Professor of Psychiatry, Dewitt Wallace Senior Scholar, and Residency Research Director at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Attending Psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. Her pioneering research on BDD has identified and elucidated many important aspects of this common and severe disorder, and she has developed and tested treatments, both medication and therapy, for BDD.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) can often be effectively treated with certain types of medication. Medication and cognitive-behavioural therapy that is tailored to BDD are the only two evidence-based treatments for BDD. For medication to be effective, the correct medication, dosing, and trial duration are needed. This presentation, by Dr. Katharine Phillips, who has conducted most of the published medication studies of BDD, will review first-line medication approaches for BDD, including dosing and trial duration. She will also discuss next-step options if a first-line medication is not adequately helpful. In addition, Dr. Phillips will review myths about medication, some possible side effects and approaches that may alleviate them if they occur, and other topics such as for how long a helpful medication should be continued.
Dr. Neziroglu is a Board Certified Psychologist who has been involved in the research and treatment of Obsessive Compulsive related disorders and anxiety disorders for over 25 years. She has presented and published over 100 papers in scientific journals and co-authored numerous books. She is clinical director and co-founder of the Bio Behavioral Institute in Greak Neck, New York. Dr. Neziroglu received her PhD in Clinical, School-Community Psychology from Hofstra University. She is Board Certified in both Behavioral (ABBP) and Professional Psychology (ABBP). She is also a Board Member and a Fellow of ABBP’s Academy. She is Full Professor at Hofstra University, Department of Psychology and Clinical Professor of Psychology at New York University.
