Worry About Appearance: Introduction

Most of us at some times in our life feel some concern about our personal appearance. For some people this concern just affects them occasionally, maybe when other things in their life have gone wrong and their confidence is at a low ebb. For others it is a more permanent worry and they spend much time pre-occupied by the thought that they are physically unattractive.

In recent years enough people have manifested this concern for it to be recognised as a specific form of distress and given a formal title - dysmorphia.

Sometimes the worry is linked to a particular physical feature or to the visible traces of some ailment or accident. For other people, the worry is more general. These worries can be a source of great distress, sometimes linked to depression, social isolation or intense self- consciousness. Often people feel particularly isolated since friends and family seek to reassure them without understanding the depth of unhappiness which they are feeling.