When the Mirror Lies: BDD Recovery Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe body dysmorphic disorder from the inside. Writers describe the years before the name, when the problem seemed obviously to be the nose, the skin, the jaw, the hairline — and the daily siege that followed: hours lost to mirrors, checking rituals and reassurance-seeking, camouflage and avoidance, social lives narrowed to the times of day with acceptable light. There are the cosmetic procedures pursued and regretted, the surgeons who declined and the ones who did not, and the money spent chasing a fix for a problem located elsewhere. Then the work: exposure and response prevention, SSRIs at doses higher than expected, therapists who understood the distinction from an eating disorder. Writers include the people who love them, clinicians who treat it, the cases where the mirror won, and the slow relearning of how to look away.

Who it's for

For anyone whose relationship with their reflection has taken over, for families who cannot understand what is being seen, and for clinicians meeting BDD in cosmetic settings.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.