Scared by your own look

A woman who is totally happy with her look 24/7 does not exist. Time to time each woman doesn’t like her reflection at the mirror. However, if you are not happy all of the time your life turns into hell.

British publication Daily Mail held a unique experiment to find out how women diagnosed with “Dismorfobia”, a condition marked by excessive pre-occupation with an imaginary or minor defect in a facial feature or localized part of the body.

A photo session was a part of the project. Ladies were asked to comment on both pictures (normal one as well as a picture made by Photoshop based on how the woman sees herself).

1)    Rachael Baughan, 27 director of modeling agency, the author of “The Bitterly Girl”

“Comparing those two pictures helps me a lot – it is like some sort of therapy. Like people who need to change their gender I feel like this body does not belong to me, but I don’t know how it’s supposed to look in reality.

2)    Rebecca Owen, 42, social worker

“I don’t like pictures. I think that I look fat in both of them. My problem is that my face is fat even when I’m skinny. My face looks like a pancake. When my boyfriend saw my pictures he didn’t understand why I don’t like the original.

I understand that I’m not fat, but I see pieces of fat on my face and hands when I look in the mirror. I have been playing sports till 15 and then I was scared to get fat, so I got anorexia when I was 16. I got into the hospital every three years after that. When I turned 30 I became a social worker who helps people with psychological problems.

I started to make enough money, invest them in my appearance and started to gain weight. I started to see a therapist. I feel sorry that I don’t have kids and have no idea if I can have them. My fertility is low as a result of anorexia.”

3)    Daniel Nalti, 27 sales manager

“The pics helped me to see the real me and understand that my nose is not that huge and my chin is not too long. My parents taught me not to think about my appearance – I was a boy in a skirt. Then they got a divorce and everything changed.

People think that all my problems are related to their divorce, but I wasn’t happy with myself from the first day. I started to wear clothes that cover me completely since I was 14 and used the cream that was developed for people with scars. I got diagnosed with “clinical depression”.

By the time I was 21 I learned to handle the situation and only by 25 I was diagnosed properly. Some people think that dismorfobia is desired to look perfect, but in reality it is a desire to look normal.”

4) Kathy Jones, 17, student of fashion institute

“I had been teased at school since I was 11 – kids told me that I look like an alien. I’ve never been photogenic. I don’t like both pics because I look funny.

I can’t explain what exactly I don’t like, I’m afraid that after my explanation all people will start noticing my problems as well. I started to become obsessed with my appearance since I was 13. I was nervous every time I had to look in the mirror.

I feel very sorry when I look at handicapped people with burned faces, but the truth is that I feel that I look worse. Some people think that I just try to get attention, but it’s not true. My mom’s friends say that I could’ve become a model – they don’t understand me at all. Only my boyfriend and best friends feel sorry for me.”

This is scary, isn’t it? What do you think?