In an effort to highlight how the degree to which some people with eating disorders have skewed views of their own bodies, the British news website MailOnline invited four women to describe how they see themselves.

The results, which were posted June 26, are stunning. The following is the account of Racheal Baughan, a 27-year-old author and entrepreneur who runs her own modeling agency:

In the same way someone who wants a sex change doesn't feel like they're in the right body, I don't either. But unlike them, I don't know what body I should be in.

I see my eyes as bulging, yet somehow also sunken with purple bags underneath. I hate my nose, and I also think the right-hand side of my face is different to the left. It makes me uncomfortable if friends even walk on that side of me - I have to switch places.

I see my lips as flat, and the top one doesn't match the lower lip. My neck is too long and makes me feel like a duck, my eyebrows are too high and in my mind's eye my skin is always covered with acne.

I think that body-image problems have been with me all my life. Even when I was four years old I was so shy. I remember being at a party when I was that age and looking around, thinking how I was different from the other children.

Baughan and the others who were featured in the MailOnline article show symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder, a preoccupation with a minor or nonexistent body flaw. Many men and women who suffer from eating disorders are also afflicted with an unrealistic image of their own bodies.

Labels: self-esteem, body image, self-image_issues

Posted By: Aspen/CRC