THERAPY
The recommended therapy for BDD is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT is a research based form of psychotherapy that uses a variety of effective techniques to treat anxiety disorders. It focuses on how our thinking has a major impact on how we feel and behave. The cognitive therapy involve noticing, challenging and changing the underlying negative thoughts and beliefs. CBT starts from the scientifically proven foundation that our thoughts cause us to feel and act the way we do, rather than external triggers e.g. people, situations or events.
If you have BDD you may experience intrusive thoughts, feelings and pictures from the past that make you feel your safety behaviours (e.g. covering up, mirror checking) are important to protect you from harm. These thoughts tend to remain unshakable despite reassurance from others.
The behaviour therapy part involves slowly reducing your unhelpful habits to test whether your fears are correct. You are then taught to replace them with more healthy life enhancing behaviours.