Controversial Psychology: I am ugly.

As far as my beliefs regarding the more controversial of the disorders discussed in my Abnormal Psychology class, such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Conversion Disorder, and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), I am skeptic of all three; however, I am guilty of the same fascination with the “more exciting” of the disorders that seems to be held by our western society, and this fascination, though it should be purely regarded in a professional manner, tends to lead to belief.  Nevertheless, I am certainly convinced of the existence and validity of the classification for Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD.

I believe that many people fall into a large range of negative self-perceptions that are completely false compared to others’ perceptions of the person in question.  Therefore, it makes complete sense that an exaggerated or even extreme form of this “low self esteem” should exist.  For example, whether because of personal life problems or because of the woman’s socialized role in western society, how many young girls and women look in the mirror and say “I am too fat.  I should lose weight.  I am not pretty.”?  This sort of self-dialogue by young women is so commonplace in our culture that it could not possibly be considered a mental disorder; however, more severe cases have been labeled as “low self esteem” when the feelings of aesthetic inferiority linger for long periods of time and when the feelings are unsubstantiated by common consensus.  These two conditions of conscientiousness and low self-esteem are certainly valid, and no one could possibly argue that these feelings and/or states are not truly felt by the individual.  So is it that bizarre for a more extreme variant to exist, for a perfectly normal or even pleasant looking person to feel that he or she is a monstrous and distorted figure?  The disorder seems like just one more disastrous step in the gradation of a person’s self-perception of his or her appearance.