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hyperarousal/butterfly effect

Whether this is correct title or not I’m not sure. I’m am just abit curious about a feeling I get.

It essentially is the butterfly feeling in your tummy. I get this feeling a lot when thinking of the opposite sex. I mean this in the sense of I “like” that person for a certain reason that makes me feel attracted to them.

I can tend to do this with many people and it can become a very confusing feeling.

I don’t know if it’s a symptom of complex ptsd or BPD, or whether I’m just wired wrong.

The complication in this, and please I don’t want to be judged or made to feel small and guilt, is that I have a gf. Our relationship is far from perfect.. but I have also had this feeling with previous partners and even when I was with my ex wife.

I don’t know what it’s all about. Maybe something for therapy?

Is this something associated with another condition?

#complexptd #BDD

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HELLO!

I’m an Asian woman, 54, living on the west coast. I have BPD, Bipolar/schitzoeffective, anxiety disorder, maj depression and now I find out ADHD/autism. I’m dealing with a lot and it’s overwhelming. I’ve been melting down and I think this is me acknowledging my neurodivergence. I’m confused and feel empty a lot and my friends are few and the ones I have are starting to yell at me for not doing stuff right and I can’t be abused anymore. I lived that way for 50 years. It’s enough. Please reach out. Love to meet some of you.

#BDD #AutismSpectrum #Bipolar1 #SchizoaffectiveDisorder #MajorDepression #MentalHealth #AnorexiaNervosa #BingeEatingDisorder

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Symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder

#BodyDysmorphicDisorder

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), occasionally still called dysmorphophobia, is a mental disorder characterized by the obsessive idea that some aspect of one's own body part or appearance is severely flawed and therefore warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it. In BDD's delusional variant, the flaw is imagined. If the flaw is actual, its importance is severely exaggerated.

Symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder may include a person:

-strongly (but incorrectly) believing they have a physical defect that makes them ugly

-frequently checking their appearance in mirrors, or avoiding mirrors

-wearing a lot of make-up or growing a beard as cover

-spending a lot of time grooming

-constantly comparing their appearance to others

-seeking reassurance regarding their appearance

-following a strict diet

-exercising excessively or weight lifting

-taking anabolic steroids or dietary supplements

-undergoing cosmetic surgery

-tanning excessively

-compulsively picking at their skin

-frequently touching parts of the body they don’t like

-avoiding going out or being with other people, or being photographed

You can refer to this:

resiliens.com/resilify/program/dealing-with-body-dysmorphia

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Life with BPD #BPD #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #PTSD

Had to go to a doctors appointment today to get my blood taken in relation to liver problems, I’ve also now been off my medication for a long while.

It can cause a lot of mental conflict, like a battle in your own mind, but I push through as I know I need to do to reach a better place. #BorderlinePersonalityDisorderBPD #BDD #ComplexPTSD #PTSD #MentalHealth

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Cheated on by my significant other who has BDD and PTSD.

My girlfriend and I have been on a break for 5 weeks, in order for her in her own words, “to work on myself so we can have a healthy relationship”. We had promised each other that we would remain loyal, dedicated, and supportive to each other as this whole break was to enhance our relationship in the long run. Unfortunately, I found out recently that she chose to sleep with a friend, breaking that promise that was made, and losing my trust. She had allegedly been cheated on by other relationships throughout her life, and told me she couldn’t have possibly trusted me to be loyal to our promise, so she had to do this in order to avoid personal hurt. I was loyal, and held that promise dearly, and now am utterly devastated by her choices. I’m trying to understand why she would’ve thought this was the only acceptable solution. Would anyone with similar experiences have ideas as to what logic was used here?

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CBT for body dysmorphia

#BodyDysmorphicDisorder

The model of BDD shown in focuses on the experience of patients when they are alone (rather than in social situations, when their behavior is likely to follow a model similar to that of social phobia; Clark & Wells, 1995). The model begins with the trigger of an external representation of the individual's body image, typically in front of a mirror. Alternative triggers include looking at a photograph taken when the patient was younger.

The process of selective attention begins by focusing on specific aspects of the external representation (e.g. the reflection in the mirror), which leads to a heightened awareness and relative exaggeration of certain features. As a result of this process, the person with BDD constructs a distorted mental representation of his or her body image.

Mirror-gazing activates idealised values about the importance of appearance and, in some patients, values about perfectionism or symmetry and thinking of the self as an aesthetic object. This leads to a negative aesthetic appraisal and comparisons of three different images - the external representation (usually in a mirror), the ideal body image and the distorted body image. Not surprisingly, these repeated comparisons leave the patient uncertain about his or her appearance, which encourages further mirror-gazing.

The patient's desire to see exactly how he or she looks is only rewarded by looking in the mirror. However, the longer the person looks, the worse he or she feels and the more the belief of ugliness and defect is reinforced. When not looking in a mirror, the individual may focus attention on his or her internal body image and ruminate on its ugliness. There is often a marked discrepancy between the actual and the ideal body image, and this inevitably leads to depressed mood and negative thoughts.

You can refer to this:

resiliens.com/resilify/program/dealing-with-body-dysmorphia

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BDD focus on

#BDD #BodyDysmorphicDisorder

In software engineering, behavior-driven development (BDD) is an agile software development process that encourages collaboration among developers, quality assurance experts, and customer representatives in a software project.

It encourages teams to use conversation and concrete examples to formalize a shared understanding of how the application should behave. It emerged from test-driven development (TDD).Behavior-driven development combines the general techniques and principles of TDD with ideas from domain-driven design and object-oriented analysis and design to provide software development and management teams with shared tools and a shared process to collaborate on software development.

Although BDD is principally an idea about how software development should be managed by both business interests and technical insight, the practice of BDD does assume the use of specialized software tools to support the development process. Although these tools are often developed specifically for use in BDD projects, they can be seen as specialized forms of the tooling that supports test-driven development. The tools serve to add automation to the ubiquitous language that is a central theme of BDD.

You can refer to this:

resiliens.com/resilify/program/dealing-with-body-dysmorphia

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Examples of BDD trigger

#BodyDysmorphicDisorder

While we have already considered how the past can lead you to develop unhelpful appearance assumptions, more recent events can also trigger or exacerbate your underlying appearance concerns. These triggers can make you tune in to your negative body image, having it ‘flare up’ as a significant problem now. Often your triggers will be linked to your appearance assumptions in some way, that is, triggers will tend to be things that either support or threaten to support your appearance assumptions.

For example, lets say you assume “if I stand out in my appearance, others will ridicule me”, then a trigger that threatens to support that assumption could be an occasion where you will be the centre of attention (i.e., your own birthday party or wedding) – you haven’t stood out or been ridiculed yet, but the potential for it to happen looms. Whereas a trigger that actually supports the same assumption might be receiving a comment from someone (e.g., “you look terrible”) – as the concern that you will be ridiculed feels like it has actually happened.

Below are common examples of BDD triggers:

- Direct negative comments (e.g., “you’re ugly”, or “bad haircut”)

- Indirect comments (e.g., “you look different today”, or a dentist asking “would you like your teeth

whitened?”)

- Perceived or actual rejection by others (e.g., a relationship break up)

- Situations where your appearance may be evaluated by others (e.g., going on

a date, applying for a modelling job, meeting people for the first time)

- Situations where other’s attention may be on you (e.g., having to give a

speech, be in a photograph)

- Exposure to attractive people (e.g., in magazines, on television, or in person)

- Seeing an unflattering photograph or image of yourself in a reflective surface

- Noticing a slight change in your appearance (e.g., greying hair, loss of muscular tone with age)

You can refer to this:

resiliens.com/resilify/program/dealing-with-body-dysmorphia

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What is body dysmorphia?

#BodyDysmorphicDisorder

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), occasionally still called dysmorphophobia, is a mental disorder characterized by the obsessive idea that some aspect of one's own body part or appearance is severely flawed and therefore warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it. In BDD's delusional variant, the flaw is imagined. If the flaw is actual, its importance is severely exaggerated.

Either way, thoughts about it are pervasive and intrusive, and may occupy several hours a day, causing severe distress and impairing one's otherwise normal activities. BDD is classified as a somatoform disorder, and the DSM-5 categorizes BDD in the obsessive–compulsive spectrum, and distinguishes it from anorexia nervosa.

BDD is estimated to affect from 0.7% to 2.4% of the population. It usually starts during adolescence and affects both men and women. The BDD subtype muscle dysmorphia, perceiving the body as too small, affects mostly males. Besides thinking about it, one repetitively checks and compares the perceived flaw, and can adopt unusual routines to avoid social contact that exposes it.

Fearing the stigma of vanity, one usually hides the preoccupation. Commonly unsuspected even by psychiatrists, BDD has been underdiagnosed. Severely impairing quality of life via educational and occupational dysfunction and social isolation, BDD has high rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide.

You can refer to this:

resiliens.com/resilify/program/dealing-with-body-dysmorphia

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Treatment options for body dysmorphic disorder

#BodyDysmorphicDisorder

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

CBT is a form of talking therapy that aims to show connections between your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. It can also help you develop practical skills to manage them. Sometimes this involves using self-help materials such as books or computer programs.

The treatment you're offered may depend on the severity of your symptoms, but ideally you should be given CBT before you're prescribed any medication. It can be delivered via telephone, video, or face to face with a therapist. Either one-to-one or in a group.

The aim of CBT for BDD is to help you feel less anxious about your body by:

-Helping you change your attitude to body image and physical appearance

-Exploring your worries about your perceived physical flaw(s)

-Reducing your need to carry out compulsive behaviors

Medication

You may be prescribed antidepressants, either on their own or in combination with CBT, if:

-CBT isn't successful in treating your BDD

-Your BDD is moderately to severely affecting how you live your day-to-day life

The type of antidepressant your GP provides will usually be a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). These can help reduce obsessive thoughts and behaviors.

SSRIs can cause unpleasant side effects for some people, so it's a good idea to discuss this with your GP before starting. You can also take a look at our information on what you should do before starting medication.

If a first course of SSRIs and more intensive CBT isn't effective, the next step is usually to try a different SSRI or another antidepressant called clomipramine.

You can refer to this:

resiliens.com/resilify/program/dealing-with-body-dysmorphia

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