What can I expect if I have body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)?

BDD’s effects tend to be mild at first and worsen over time. The negative thoughts and feelings about your body will influence your thought processes and behaviors. As they become more intense, you’re more likely to feel more and more distressed about your appearance. They may also start to affect or change your life, making it difficult to study, work or spend time with others socially.

BDD usually becomes more severe the longer it goes untreated. That’s why it’s important to get a diagnosis and treatment for body dysmorphic disorder as soon as possible. Early diagnosis and treatment may stop BDD’s symptoms and effects from worsening.

BDD is treatable and it’s often possible to manage it. Unfortunately, it isn’t curable and doesn’t go away on its own. Once it develops, it’s a lifelong condition.

Receiving treatment for BDD can also cause you to experience a kind of remission, meaning your symptoms fade, weaken or even go away entirely. While it’s possible to have a relapse where symptoms return, flare up or become more severe, effective treatment can help you manage BDD, limiting its effects on your life.

BDD is a treatable condition. Research estimates that between 50% and 80% of people treated with medication experience fewer or less severe symptoms and are less likely to experience relapses where symptoms return or become more severe again.

Experts strongly recommend combining medication treatments with psychotherapy. That’s because psychotherapy can help you develop thinking and coping strategies that counter the thoughts and feelings you experience with BDD.

Without treatment, body dysmorphic disorder has the potential to disrupt your life severely. Self-harm or suicide are also more common among people living with untreated BDD. Up to 80% of people with BDD have suicidal thoughts, and 1 in 4 people with BDD attempt suicide. People with BDD are also 45 times more likely to die by suicide than people without it. Because of this, early diagnosis and treatment — especially in people who develop BDD before age 18 — are critical.