Science
What Is Body Dysmorphic Disorder?
Mandy Rosenberg, 35, from Brookfield, Wisc., has always drawn attention because of her looks. With her long blonde hair, athletic build and large blue eyes, she was called Barbie by some of her high school peers.
But even though people often told her that she was pretty, she didn’t view herself the same way.
She’d spend hours staring at a tiny blemish on her forehead that was barely visible to others. In her mind, it was a large and unsightly scar, and she would climb on top of her bathroom sink to get as close to the mirror as possible while examining it.
“If I couldn’t make that go away, I didn’t want to live anymore,” she said.
Ms. Rosenberg didn’t know it at the time, but she had both obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder, or B.D.D., a mental health condition that causes people to spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about their appearance — to the point where they may isolate themselves from others and feel imprisoned in their own bodies.
People with B.D.D. not only think they look unattractive but can become convinced that others will reject them because of their flaws.
“They often feel they’re unlovable,” said Dr. Katharine Phillips, an expert in B.D.D. and a psychiatrist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.
What is body dysmorphic disorder?
Those with B.D.D. fixate on perceived cosmetic problems that to others appear unnoticeable or minor. But it’s not about vanity; instead, people with B.D.D. feel extreme anguish that impairs their functioning.
The disorder typically emerges during adolescence and is estimated to affect 2 to 3 percent of the general population, but these numbers may be conservative because the disorder is underdiagnosed.
Studies have shown differences in the brains of people with B.D.D., said Dr. Jamie Feusner, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Some of his research has found that in those who have the condition areas of the brain that help us view things holistically are underactive.
This might be part of the reason that people with B.D.D. have trouble viewing their imperfections as small relative to their entire face or body. It’s akin to looking at a window with a smudge on it, then “thinking that the whole window is ruined,” Dr. Feusner said.
Patients with B.D.D. aren’t always aware that their concerns stem from a mental health problem. Instead, they often believe wholeheartedly that they have physical defects.
Because of this, someone might suffer for a decade or more before seeking help from a mental health provider, said Hilary Weingarden, a psychologist in Massachusetts who studies O.C.D. and related conditions.
Instead, “they’re going to their dermatologist and a plastic surgeon and the dentist and the aesthetician,” she said.
But trying to “fix” their appearance only serves to maintain and exacerbate their anxiety in the long run.
What are the signs and symptoms?
People with B.D.D. may withdraw from relationships, avoid attending work or school, and spend an excessive amount of time on repetitive behaviors like examining themselves in the mirror, attempting to camouflage their appearance or seeking reassurance from others.
Chris Trondsen, a therapist in Costa Mesa, Calif., who diagnosed Ms. Rosenberg with B.D.D., said his patients admit to spending hours chatting with artificially intelligent bots, both seeking affirmation and asking what they ought to fix.
“If you ask a human, people are going to get fed up answering the questions,” Mr. Trondsen said.
Mr. Trondsen was inspired to study psychotherapy because of his own struggle with B.D.D. He used to fixate on his complexion and other parts of his body, too. He worried that his nose was too large for his face and that his body wasn’t muscular enough, a form of B.D.D. called muscle dysmorphia.
“I kept thinking I was getting uglier,” Mr. Trondsen said.
Like many patients with B.D.D., he also spent hours checking his body in mirrors and rarely left his apartment. At 21 years old, Mr. Trondsen became so isolated and consumed by his appearance that he attempted suicide, and might have died had his roommate not discovered him. After that, he sought help and was diagnosed with O.C.D. and B.D.D.
It’s common for those with B.D.D. to also have conditions like O.C.D., major depressive disorder, social phobia and substance use disorder. Studies indicate that people with B.D.D. have high rates of suicidal ideation and behavior, too. One meta-analysis found that, across a patient’s life span, about 66 percent of those with B.D.D. will have thoughts of suicide and around 35 percent will attempt it.
How is it treated?
Cognitive behavioral therapy for B.D.D. has been shown to lead to remission in more than half of patients. It includes exposure and response prevention, which is meant to help patients gradually confront the things that they have been avoiding or the rituals they have become dependent upon, like hiding parts of their body with clothing or makeup.
Therapists try to help patients view themselves more holistically, emphasizing that there’s more to them than the specific parts of their bodies they scrutinize.
The disorder can also be treated with serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or S.R.I.s., often at high doses. For those with severe B.D.D., both medication and C.B.T. are recommended, Dr. Phillips said.
For Ms. Rosenberg, cognitive behavioral therapy with her former therapist, Mr. Trondsen, gradually helped her condition.
Later, as part of her treatment, she created a diagram showcasing all of the things that contribute to her identity: She is a daughter and a faithful Christian, she loves dogs and cats, she is a teacher, she is caring — she is more than just her looks.
My body, she said, “doesn’t get to determine how I go about my day.”
The Pentagon released what it called “new, never-before-seen” files on U.F.O.s on Friday, hailing the step as an example of the commitment of the department, which kicked out reporters earlier this year, to transparency.
“No other president or administration in history has followed through on this level of U.A.P. transparency,” the Pentagon said in a news release, referring to what the Defense Department calls unidentified anomalous phenomena but what most people call U.F.O.s, or unidentified flying objects.
The collection is being “housed,” the release said, at war.gov/ufo. Files will be released on a rolling basis.
The initial files are murky still images that show what could be anything. In one, a cluster of dots appear on the screen. In another, there are some strangely shaped objects.
President Trump on social media framed the release as fulfilling a promise to the public: “Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?””
In 2017 The New York Times reported that the Pentagon had a secret and classified program, which began in 2007, that investigated reports of unidentified flying objects. Since then, there has been a push from lawmakers for the government to declassify its work on U.F.O.s.
Former representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, took to social media to deride the release, calling it “‘look at the shiny object’ propaganda” while the administration waged foreign wars.
“Unless they roll out live aliens and test demo UFOs or actually admit what we know this really is then I have way better things to do on this Friday,” she wrote.
new video loaded: Pentagon Releases U.F.O. Files
By Jorge Mitssunaga
May 8, 2026
President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, after a series of clashes over vaping, oversight of the abortion pill and a series of new drug application denials that rattled biotech companies, according to a person briefed on the matter, who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Dr. Makary had a high profile for an F.D.A. commissioner, appearing frequently on television and podcasts to sell the work he was doing at the agency on improving the food supply, speeding up some drug approvals and trying to restore agency morale after thousands of staff members left.
He tried to walk the tightrope between the business-friendly Make America Great Again movement, pledging to get rid of regulations that slow down innovation and to attract more drug trials to the United States. He was an ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make American Healthy Again supporters, voicing the skepticism of the pharmaceutical industry and authorizing natural food dyes.
Ultimately, Dr. Makary’s efforts were not enough to overcome the grievances of a growing band of enemies focused on selling tobacco, opposing abortion and seeing biotech therapies authorized.
Mr. Trump’s decision to dismiss him was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The decision could still change, given Mr. Trump’s propensity to change his mind Dr. Makary has also proven persuasive with Mr. Trump in beating back previous efforts to oust him.
Leaving the White House Friday evening, Mr. Trump dismissed the idea that Dr. Makary would be fired.
“I’ve been reading about it, but I know nothing about it,” he said.
The White House has pressured Dr. Makary for months to authorize flavored e-cigarettes, according to a person close to the conversations. The approvals were a top wish of major tobacco companies that have been top donors to Mr. Trump. In March, the F.D.A. issued a memo saying that it would only authorize e-cigarettes in flavors such as mint, tea and spices. The memo said the fruit and candy flavors would be unlikely to pass muster, given their appeal to young people.
Pressure continued, though, and on Tuesday the F.D.A. authorized blueberry and mango flavored e-cigarettes by Glas, a small company based in Los Angeles.
Abortion foes including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America have continued to turn up the heat on Dr. Makary, reiterating their call for his firing on Thursday. The group’s leaders and others view Dr. Makary as dragging his feet on a safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone, which they viewed as a way to highlight what they believe are dangers of the drug. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who also opposes abortion rights, amplified criticism of Dr. Makary on social media as well.
The administration has been under pressure from conservatives to tighten regulations on the prescribing and dispensing of mifepristone. The Supreme Court is reviewing a federal appeals court ruling that temporarily blocked abortion providers from prescribing the drug through telemedicine and sending it to patients by mail.
Biotech companies and their investors have also raised alarms with the White House about agency decisions to reject a series of treatments for rare diseases. The F.D.A. typically turns down about 20 percent of the applications it receives for drug approvals from companies.
Dr. Makary has been aggressive in defending the decisions, which he said came from career scientists who found the medications ineffective.
Dr. Makary also had to contend with a health secretary who seemed to view the F.D.A. as an avenue for getting his favored products authorized, exemplified by Mr. Kennedy’s social media post saying that the agency would end its “war on” stem cell treatments, peptides and raw milk. Mr. Kennedy pushed the F.D.A. to reverse a 2023 ban and allow the use of a number of peptides, unproven compounds purported to offer anti-aging or muscle-recovery benefits.
Before leading the F.D.A., Dr. Makary was a cancer surgeon and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was also the author of several books about the health care system.
Some of Dr. Makary’s more popular moves included encouraging broader use of hormone replacement products for women and lifting the F.D.A.’s warnings on them. He helped speed some promising drugs to market, including a pancreatic cancer therapy and the pill form of the popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs.
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