In today's society, more people suffer from "mirror syndrome" or "appearance anxiety" than imagined. One of the main characteristics of this "disease" is looking in the mirror all day long and not being able to tolerate any shortcomings in oneself. In the process of racking one's brains to make oneself more attractive, a series of psychological problems will arise, or it may manifest as a negative attitude toward oneself. They are not confident in their appearance and feel nervous, anxious, difficult to concentrate, and easily disturbed when meeting others. However, they usually do not feel uncomfortable when socializing through text, voice, or other "faceless" methods. .
Severe patients are prone to symptoms such as not looking directly at others, lowering their heads, feeling cramped, unconsciously grabbing their fingers, sweating, blushing or pale, trembling body and voice, and even avoidance behavior when talking face to face with others. This "symptom" can lead to many modern diseases, such as anorexia, bulimia, excessive exercise, or addiction to plastic surgery, etc. Although extreme consequences rarely occur, many people experience a psychological conflict when they look in the mirror and feel that they are uglier than everyone else, even though they are not ugly in appearance. An obvious example is that many young people upload photos of themselves online and are criticized, sometimes causing depression, anxiety and eating disorders in those being commented on. These phenomena will cause damage to people's physical and mental health.
1. Causes
Personality basis: This type of people are more sensitive and sentimental, prone to thinking about problems emotionally, and are more worried and introverted;
Social and psychological factors: With the development of medical beauty and the constant changes in daily social interactions It greatly amplifies the effect of appearance, stimulating people to pay more attention to their own appearance, so as to continuously amplify their inner anxiety.
2. How to improve
1. Health education: First, let the "patient" understand the nature of this symptom and form a correct understanding of anxiety to avoid further aggravating anxiety. Then, a comprehensive assessment of the "patient" is conducted to help the patient change bad cognitions and reconstruct cognition; this anxiety is an expansion of social body anxiety, that is, individuals worry about others' negative evaluations of their body shape or physique. Psychological reaction.
2. Accept imperfections: Everyoneās appearance is unique and not perfect. At the same time, appearance does not mean everything. You should actively accept your imperfections. People with appearance anxiety have differences between their self-perception of appearance and their actual appearance. They can relieve their anxiety through recognition from friends and positive psychological suggestions.
3. Reactive prevention: Mainly reflected in life, if you can't help but look in the mirror frequently, you can subconsciously control this behavior. At the same time, when you compare your appearance with others in your heart, you should interrupt such thoughts in time and divert your attention. Think about your own shining points, reduce your excessive attention to appearance, and focus on other meaningful things. things like learning a new skill.
In addition, you should also realize that you are actually better-looking than you think. You can pay more attention to your good-looking aspects and don't dwell too much on your shortcomings.
If appearance anxiety is severe, leading to symptoms such as low mood, loss of interest, slow thinking, self-blame, sleep disorders, and other symptoms, it indicates that there may be a depressive disorder. It is recommended to go to the hospital in time and actively carry out targeted treatment. .
