Scott Granet's Personal Journey with BDD

Scott Granet discusses his personal struggles with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) starting as a young adult. He shares how it negatively impacted his life and his journey to finding treatment.

[Weeflowerofscotland]

And he still has thick hair at 65. It’s nice to hear other peoples stories with BDD. I have had BDD and OCD since I was 17. I’m now 46.

[kiwicatnip]

I can’t believe that therapist was so apathetic towards you about a concern you said you had been voicing for months. Extremely unprofessional and detrimental to someone who feels hopeless in their situation. I’m glad you eventually found the help that you needed.

I am grateful to have recently learned about BDD. I didn’t realize there was a word or condition for my specific issues until about four days ago, but it feels like a revelation for me. It explains a lot of the dysfunctional patterns and self destructive habits, actions, and ways of thinking that have been so prominent over the course of my life.

[HBclassical]

Thank you. It’s so helpful to hear other people’s experiences with this.

[whenplantingforests]

I'm a very poor mature student and I know $2 won't offer much :) but this interview is just so impactful. Thank you for sharing your story. The empathy is beyond appreciated. Best wishes. ❤

[newanas]

This illness took my life. 41 years old, no job, no partner, no kids, nothing.

[Sqweeps]

its so important that people share their stories like this. very grateful for this

[findingmyway]

I have bdd since 15 and im 30 now. Still on the journey, thank you for sharing ❤

[salarkhan-mrrn]

Every body facing bdd please don't lose hope i have bdd but i am still fighting to it and InshaAllah i well get rid of this one day

[OZRIC]

How adversely did the BDD actually affect Scott's daily life? Did he avoid life events during the times when he felt bad about his hair's appearance? From what Scott said here, it sounds like his BDD was a bit of a daily annoyance, but he still could accomplish things in his life. Within the past five years or so, I realized that I have had BDD since I was approximately 14 years old (so, 43 years now). I have had a problem with having to make sure that my hair is acceptable enough for me to leave the house, and this has caused me severe problems with school, jobs, life events, etc. However, my hair isn't the only issue I have with my body. I will not take my shirt off for anything, other than if I have to reluctantly take it off at a doctor appointment for whatever reason. I will not go swimming, and I will not take off my shirt during sex or even if I'm just around the house. After being married years ago, I have been single (and completely celibate) for about 20 years. I really have a problem with my whole body, and if I were to remove my clothes around anyone I would feel unbearable anxiety. So, I completely avoid doing that at all costs. It has caused me to miss so many life experiences that other people enjoy (i.e. going to the beach, swimming in pools or anywhere, sitting in anyone's sauna, enjoying full intimacy with a woman, etc.). I have lost jobs for being late so many times at every one of them (and I have had countless jobs over the years) because of the time it takes me to make sure that I appear as acceptable as possible before I leave the house. I have extreme envy for regular guys who look acceptable enough to go outside with their shirt off or to quickly comb their thick hair and it goes right into place (and can seem to stay in place even in a hurricane or tornado). BDD has been a horrendous problem for me for over four decades, so no amount of CBT or "exposure therapy" (which I would never ever do as it is a fate worse than death) would help me in any way. I would probably have to be drugged into oblivion to even start to treat this BDD nightmare. BDD has been a real life destroyer for me.

[megs]

Does anyone talk about bdd living up to other people's expectations of you, I'm 52, I'm and average looking women, I was an average looking teenager, and looks in general never entered my radar, I grew up with a lot of trauma, but consistently told, aren't you pretty, hasn't she got a pretty smile, as I got older, my ex brother in law introduced me as, this is my brothers ex with such pride I wanted to run, I just wanted to connect with people, and compliments made me feel like that dependent on looking-glass a certain way, I still didn't personally care, I just took note of it. Then in my 40s I started to wake up with a swollen face, like I'd slept under the sun, it was sudden and random, at first I wasn't worried but it kept happening and my brain flipped, no allergies, no reason, then I was left with weird little bumps on either side of my nose which went down from just under my eyes to the corners of my mouth like this )👃( but closer to my nose, they even tested me for rare cancers because no one knew what it was, I'd already been suffering for years with another random undiagnosable disorder called PGAD so I was already close to not being here, this swelling went on for a year, I started getting broken blood vessels, plus I was getting older, incorrect use of retinal above my top lip thinned the skin and now there are squiggly lines there, then for another year I was a allergic to everything I'd used my whole life, then after 2 years it stopped but the changes to my face remained, and I felt like I'd let everyone down, how could I connect with people now, I didn't want my families friends or neighbours to see me because I didn't want to embarrass my family, I didn't want my grandchildrens friends to see me, I felt like I would terrify or offend people when I went out in public, it took 5 hours to get ready to go across the road to the shop, after getting ready sobbing re doing my make-up 10x I'd go down around 10 to 8 at night, so 10min before the closed like the phantom of the opera, it's been 5 6 years, I had to reach out for help 5 years ago, before I gave up, but it was only the thought of letting everyone else down and not being able to connect with others that bothered me, if I couldn't do that as freely as I used to, what was the point, but getting rid of the dozen mirrors around the house, replacing negative thoughts with, a positive song or a serious topic, to focus on who I was and not how I looked slowly is turning around,
For me it was a loss of control of the only thing I thought people cared about, mixed with trauma ocd and adhd, I was selling those people short, and I was selling myself short, and I was selling the me God loved short, it took time, and I never compliment my grandchildren on how the look, but who they are, for me every physical compliment felt like a rope around my neck, we are so much more ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹🤗🥲💞🐨🇦🇺🦘🌱.

[dsherbert]

Man you’re so lucky you didn’t actually lose your hair. I worried to death about losing it, and now I actually am receding. No matter how much torture it is to worry your hair is falling out when it isn’t, the torture is far more unbearable when it becomes a reality. And sadly for most men it does become a reality eventually.

[AP-nxxo]

Mirror checking is a huge problem for me because BDD wins most of the time. I have to control how much I mirror check. I too get suicidal about my appearance and it usually happens just after I mirror checked. Compliments don’t help my illness. Wish they did

[scarred]

And he still has a head of hair over 40 yrs later

[HansenKay-qh]

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