Body Image and TMS

Anyone have any experience with body dysmorphic disorder and TMS? I've had really aggressively negative feelings regarding the way I look from mid teens onwards. That's also gotten wrapped up with anxiety, because I have anxiety that anxiety ages me more quickly etc. I haven't looked in a mirror, except by accident, in a decade. It's hard to describe, because I think it's quite different from vanity. It has less to do with wanting to look like brad pitt and more to do with thinking that everyone can see my anxiety and that it's causing me to shrivel up or turn into something horrible. I feel like a ghost. Also, I think I look about 10 years older than my age (I'm 25 and I think I look more like 35 or 40), and I think this is the result of constant anxiety and part of me feels like therefore it's my fault (I know this is mixed up). For me, it's really just about neck up... but I think this sort of thing can manifest in a lot of different ways and may be most closely related to anorexia.

 

Yes, I think that everyone can see my anxiety. There's a line from Paul Simon's Graceland..."losing love is like a window in your heart/everyone can see you're blown apart..."

 

I'm 85 and when I look in the mirror, which I try not to do, even shaving with an electric shaver, I see an old man.
Then I smile and I look younger.

My mother died at age 94 and said she still felt like she was 35 inside.

Our looks should be our least concern. It's what inside that matters and that people see, not the exterior.
Brad Pitt only looked great for a couple of years, then he has aged. He wasn't a really a Pretty Boy for long,
although I think he is a nice guy and a caring person.

We all live with anxiety. If that showed in my face I would look like I was 200. I keep learning to live with anxiety.
I learned a lot about how to do that with TMS knowledge.

 

I know I have some issues about growing old & looking older. I'm 57 this year but still feel like I'm in my 30s so its hard sometimes but some makeup & nice clothes & positive thinking can help a lot.

You probably think that ppl see u the way u think u feel & see yrself but I bet that is not true. Maybe u could start by looking at yrself a bit more & trying to be more complimentary about yrself. Compliment yrself on yr good features & maybe smile at yr reflection like Walt suggested. 'Think' yrself young again.

Mala