Gender Dysphoria Vs. Body Dysmorphic Disorder

[Taka]

...yeah, i really did lose myself. but i'll be back in a while, probably tomorrow. no big deal.

i just thought i should tell you julie,
that your beauty is stunning.
you always have been.
the smile in your current avatar is pretty enough to paint a portrait..
though i have no skills as an artist, so it won't happen right now... sorry about that.

[ChaoticTribe]

Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a fixation on the body (in part or in whole) characterized by intrusive thoughts that impair quality of life. Someone may become anxious, depressed, and even stop dating, working, or going outside in an attempt to avoid judgement or having their perceived flaw being seen. Gender Dysphoria requires these thoughts to be present, therefore you cannot have GID without BDD. 

BDD can be as basic as being self-conscious about your weight and becoming anorexic or bulimic to attempt modifying your figure, or it could be as complex as Tori Spelling and Michael Jackson, who had repeated surgeries and procedures on various parts of your body.

Some people's BDD stems from a desire to look like or be another race. Currently many procedures such as eyelid surgery and skin whitening are becoming common in Asiatic countries. Many women are getting breast implants and men are sometimes taking steroids and working out excessively to give themselves a more WESTERN sex-specific shape. A shape which their bodies do not naturally take, for which intervention is required.

For females, BDD can take the form of eating disorders, nose jobs, breast implants, face lifts, butt implants or booty shot injections, labiaplasty, liposuction, and numerous other procedures. Many women keep working on one part after another, even having several surgeries on the same part of their body. Tori Spelling is a perfect example of someone's desire to look like an ideal actually causing them to look as though something is wrong, and being better off leaving herself natural.

For males, BDD can take the form of eating disorders, liposuction, and nose jobs as well but their other most common procedures are surgery to reverse hair loss, removal of 'man boobs', pec implants, penis enlargement, and facial surgeries such as implants for the chin and jaw. They are also more likely to take steroids to gain unnatural amounts of muscle and exercise to the point of injury.






When someone desires to change their physical body from male to female or female to male, they're reacting to the same mental process. They have an idea of what a man or woman looks like (it does not matter if they are someone who 'goes for the gold' and tries to become an ideal or someone who just 'wants to feel normal') - they are still modifying their body to an appearance in the belief that it will either

-change the way they feel about themselves so they can be happy
-avoid being 'singled out' for their flaws or differences
-become more attractive


EDIT; almost forgot to add this. One more thing I've seen from talking to people with Gender Dysphoria is that typically they will experience stops and starts in the process where they fixate on a specific problem or set of problems and feel temporary relief once it is 'fixed', but then later they will have another issue that needs intervention, often in a continuous process spanning years where the 'happy periods' can last several months or more, or may be as short as a few weeks or days.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I've been there and finally called a halt to it, but it is most prevalent on the vanity photo posts on the other website we just left. I always felt bad for more than a few MtF folks who kept going back to the surgeons for more fine tuning when they actually already looked more beautiful than most cis women, it became quite evident that they were somehow mentally off.

[Deleted]

I remember one indivudual who reeled of a list of surgery she needed in order to be happy as a woman and if she'd had all of them done (many were medically impossible) she would have been more borg than human.

[Taka]

i'm pretty sure i have gender dysphoria, both social and physical.

i hate being put in the girl box, i hate always "naturally" belonging in a wrong group.
i'd rather choose the opposite if i could, but i don't feel like how my body looks matters at all in this.

i've had bdd-like feelings about genitals and hips. hips are too big, genitals are ugly.
could have obsessed, but don't. it's just a feeling, even a somewhat rational one as i really am different from average or what's commonly considered prettier.
but not something i'll go to extreme measures to fix.
the voice can be fixed with hrt, it might be worth doing it. maybe some of the noise in my head can too, but that's something i won't know until trying.

but what i feel about my chest seems more similar to biid.
i don't feel they're ugly, i actually like them very much. they're nice, functional, look good. everything is right about them.
except that they're attached to my body, and that creeps me out at times.
there's no obsession, just the creepy feeling whenever something touches them and makes me feel that they are there.
i'm perfectly ok with a padded bra. but i can't wear them to bed.
this really is the only thing i feel a real need to do something about.
it's completely irrational. not similar to any of the other feelings of not being good or pretty or manly or girly enough.
just plain creepy, every time i can feel that they are there.
i don't mind seeing them, maybe i'd be ok if i just lost sensitivity in my nipples.