Physical characteristics

[shy_miss_fly]

MissFly I dunno why youre worried about your looks, you look fine!

awww thanx stardog I have gotten alot better at excepting myself for who I am. When I was younger, I absolutly hated myself and the way I looked, I thought I was the ugliest girl and would cry because I hated myself so much. Now Ive been working on being more positive and focusing on the things I like about myself instead of the things I dont and its really helping. I still have things Im insecure about, but I think everyone does. But now I can acually look in a mirror and most of the time I'll like what I see!

 

[flower29]

I used to be fat...but I've had SA even since before then...cause I was a really skinny kid until I was about 8 years old and even before then I was really shy, quiet, & nervous around people...I'd cry every day when I had to go to school and be around those strange people. I wouldn't hardly talk to anyone. But then when I gained weight alot of people made fun of me so I'm sure that didn't help any. :x

Its really wierd because I am totally opposite from you when I was a little kid I was so social and very active. and skinny Now I am a little overweight inactive and not even social with my family. The only thing that changed was that my parents got divorced. Do you think that could change soemone whole personaltiy :?:

 

[Septor]

Well I have had problem with all my physical characteristic sense I was a kid.Got even worse around 13 but that's the curse of being ugly I guess.

 

[Leithliseach]

I've always felt that I'm an ugly looking bastard (although other people have disagreed with me about it). It has without a doubt been the main cause of my social anxiety.
I wonder what proportion of SA sufferers feel this is the/a major reason for thier problem?

 

[Waybuloo]

I've had acne for a period. Now, i don't know it comes and goes. The stupid humidity in Sydney jsut makes it worst! If not for that i'll prob look normal.

i dont' even know if its BDD i have anymore, since bdd's supposed to be related to 'imagined' flaws which is far from true for me. IS there a term for excessive preoccupation with 'real' flaws?

 

[crazyfairyx]

I've always been really slim, and I think that contributed to me being socially anxious, because anytime I would go to the bathroom members of my family would creep upstairs to see if they could hear me throwing up. Plus anytime I didn't eat absolutely every scrap on my plate I was accused of being anorexic, or mockingly told that I may as well eat it because as I was bulimic I would just throw it all back up anyway.

I've never been anorexic or bulimic.

Also I'm tall for a girl (5.10) and I've always felt daft because all my girl mates have always been shorter than me, and I'm even taller than some guys and so I rarely ever can wear heels or anything. I just used to feel a bit ridiculous being so tall.

And I'm really pale, I can rarely ever get even a bit of a tan, and fake tans look ridiculous on me, and I feel really inferior around lovely tanned or dark skinned people, especially in summer.

When I was 16 I got with a guy who told me I was ugly because I was too skinny, too pale, and too tall, and it all reinforced everything I thought, but I'm getting more confident now.

Naomi x

 

[loucat]

I can totally relate to Naomi

I,ve always been skinny, and got really paranoid about my head being too big for my body

This was reinforced by some bitch at school who called me a walking gearstick!

How harsh was that?! :wink:
and being skinny automatically means you have an eating disorder :!: . sometimes you just can't win!!

 

[Nie]

i dont' even know if its BDD i have anymore, since bdd's supposed to be related to 'imagined' flaws which is far from true for me. IS there a term for excessive preoccupation with 'real' flaws?

I think BDD is not only supposed to be related to 'imagining' flaws,
but also to exaggerating existing flaws
which normally wouldn't be regarded that critically to some degree
so much as to be excessively preoccupied with em..
Unless our flaws are objectively as remarkable as we feel about them subjectively and therefore really requiring that much attention, which we might tend to believe?..

 

[Morgs]

I think self estem and self worth contributs to SP SA

but not an underlining cause

big ears 20 pounds under waight

 

[LA-girl]

I never had any physical abnormalities. I was actually one of the popular people at school, and I was never teased. My shrink told me that her impression was that a lot of people with SA were good-looking people :wink:

 

[turtlegirl]

I had crooked teeth until around age 25, and my parents never took me to the dentist. Very self-conscious but I made it through the embarassment of seeing a dentist (who was like "whoa") and getting braces. But still my teeth itself look odd although the alignment is fixed. Also have a "long face" and needed surgery for that, but no way did I go for that. Never really learned to wear makeup right and style my hair, and oh still have acne at age 30. It's better than it used to be but I have perma-scars and it's just terrible on my back And I'm one of those that think my voice sounds odd. Because of teeth and being self-concious of my own voice, I feel I cannot smile normally or sound natural when saying "thank you" to a store clerk or something. Doesn't help that I've grown so bitter over the years and feel like I'm being sarcastic or phoney when I speak.

 

[skatterkat]

I have severe hangups regarding my face. I have an under developed upper jaw and an overdeveloped lower jaw. I wasn't too bad about it til this time last year. I'd had braces for six years and decided to go for surgery. I had to go for an x-ray. I snuck a peek at the x-ray. Basically my face seen from the side looks like a banana. As in, my forehead is normal, then my profile curves inwards behind my nose, then my jaw juts out like some weird jester's shoe. You know, the pointy kind that curls in on itself at the tip. So now I'm very conscious of the fact that I have no cheekbones whatsoever and that when I smile my eyes disappear and all you can see are a floating nose and chin. Urgh.

(By the way, I'm not going for surgery to fix the way I look. I hate it but I could live with it. Actually my facial structure is fairly out of whack so I get pressure headaches and stuff, and my teeth are affected as well. :evil: )

I hate my voice too... I'd actually love to be a voice actor for anime and stuff but I don't have what it takes, unfortunately!

 

[verybeautiful]

my teeth.
They're BIG and one of them is shaped like a spoon. When I was younger they were mottled too, although I had them filled with white filler...which has helped a bit.
I hate to smile as I think they frighten people. Have you ever seen Donnie Darko? I have teeth like the rabbit out of that film.

:lol: I have rabbit teeth too, two big front ones.

Has anyone else got raw ripped up lips from chewing them too much?

Or or, scars on their face from picking spots?

Wait wait wait, anyone got a pot belly whilst also simultanuously having their rib bones stick out?

<--is having a bad day.

:twisted:

i dont have any wrongs, SP does not come from bad looks there are many ugly people with good confidence. its comes from the brauin and the way we think and bad experiences. stress.

 

[renegade]

Guess I found out what countributed 2 my SP: politeness, modestie and those kind of things :?

 

[Jim04]

My Height

 

[Quixote]

I'm of average height, very lightweight, quite fit. As for my looks I am not too ugly, but I look younger than I am and have a rather small jaw, while my teeth are too large. I have beautiful eyes, which somehow compensates the rest I hope.
I am not too much unhappy with my body and looks now, but as a child I was always very little and I knew anybody could beat me up if they just wanted to (although nobody ever did), which could be a reason why I did not manage to get rid of SA during childhood.

 

[Jim04]

and I knew anybody could beat me up if they just wanted to

and thats the way most people look at me.

 

[Hookstra]

I'm kind of the opposite of most sufferers I guess. I've never been called ugly, the dentist says I have wonderful teeth, I have a deep and powerful speaking voice, I'm intelligent and naturally athletic to boot.

It really all doesn't matter because I'm still shy around most people. It might lie in the fact that I want people to think good of me, and I seem to be oversensitive to things.

 

[pinkputter]

Physical characteristics have nothing to do with anxiety.

We have anxiety, therefore we are more critical of how we look.

Don't focus in on what you don't have or what you want to change. Focus on what you have and what you want to keep the way it is.

I love that audrey hepburn quote "For kind eyes, see the good in others. For beautiful lips, speak truth in kindness."

If you really think your SA wouldnt be there if you liked the way you looked better, don't allow that to take over your recovery process or keep you from improving. What we look like on the outside may have a lot to do with hw society treats us, but you are the only one who knows yourself on the inside, and since SA involves ignoring judgements placed on us by society, we shouldn't let how we physically look affect us. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty alone has no truth. Things that are truthful have beauty.

 

[Emma]

I'm an ugly freak:

I had so many teeth they wouldn't fit in my mouth and were all in the wrong spot, and I had braces for nearly four years.

I had big giant dumbo ears which I got fixed when I was ten, but it went wrong, my ears turned out pointy like an elf and it the big bandage on my head from it damaged my spine.

I got scoliosis which has given me a hunchback and thrown my knees out so they constantly grind when I walk.

My bottom jaw is malformed and too small so I have a double chin

I am boring, I am not good at anything and know one likes me because I have nothing interesting to do or say.

I think if I was good looking I might be happy, they only thing I have going for me is that I'm not mean to anyone