Blog Post 2: Vanity Kills!

I know two people who are very different from each other. One is contented with how she looks, in fact, she’s more than contented, she’s obsessed with how good she looks and is very proud of it. She can never take her hands off her mirror just so she could take another glance of her beautiful face. The other one, well, she’s very insecure with how she looks. To us, she’s fine, beautiful even, but in her point of view, she hates everything about her. She doesn’t like her nose, she doesn’t like her hair, and she keeps on complaining about it.

At their state, I’ve learned that it’s both normal for teenagers to have and it can still be tolerated. But if they develop it, it can turn to extreme conditions and become disorders of obsessions known as Narcissism and Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Narcissism is a fixation with oneself. A self-obsession. It originated with Narcissus in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Currently it is used to describe a person characterized by egotism, vanity, pride, or selfishness. Today, research said that we are living in an increasingly narcissistic society, wherein social media is a medium that fuels both teenagers’ and adults’ narcissistic tendencies. In an article, researcher Elliot Panek said: 

"Young people may overevaluate the importance of theirown opinions" and "Through Twitter, they're trying to broaden their social circles and broadcast their views about a wide range of topics and issues."

As for adults, research found out that Facebook is the social media that boosts up their narcissistic tendencies. It is because it serves as a mirror where they can curate images of themselves and make them appear younger than their actual years. In Lisa Firestone’s article Is Social Media to Blame for the Rise in Narcissism? She wrote:

“While it is certain that online forms of communication and social networks do affect individual's mental health, the solution to fostering a less narcissistic generation is to instill a healthy sense of true esteem offline before anyone is old enough to post their first status update. Only by being less self-obsessed and placing more value on personal relating can we impart these values to the next generation.”

While Narcissism is the fixation of oneself, Body Dysmorphic Disorder is the exact opposite of it. Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a condition that involves obsessions, which are distressing thoughts that repeatedly intrude into a person's awareness. With BDD, the distressing thoughts are about perceived appearance flaws. People with BDD might focus on what they think is a facial flaw, but they can also worry about other body parts, such as short legs, breast size, or body shape. BDD is an obsession manifested as excessive concern on the little flaws of their physical appearance which can cause depression and can lead to suicide.

Body dysmorphic disorder is said to be “imagined ugliness” because the affected person tends to magnify their slight physical flaws that others might not even notice it. In an article by Sally Williams entitled “The ugly truth about body dysmorphic disorder”, she wrote a story about a girl named Samantha Davies who began to develop the deformities that would transform her to what she's described as 'the most ugly person in the world.' She suffers from BDD and attempted suicide three times when she decided she had had enough. But the strange thing is that Samantha looks perfectly normal. It was all in her head. So she received treatment, and after a year, the girl who would not even go to school because she was embarrassed of her face, managed to thank you for a compliment she received.

Both Narcissism and BDD aren’t good to have because they develop inferiority and superiority complex among ourselves. Plus, they're both mental illnesses and disorders. So if you are experiencing symptoms of one of them, might as well tolerate it early than develop it. Because BDD can lead to suicide and Narcissism can lead to severe egotism.