Sydney Sweeney on Having Body Dysmorphia

“I 've definitely struggled with a lot of body dysmorphia and been self-conscious and judging myself in a very sick, hard way.”

-Sydney Sweeney

Sydney Sweeney is an American actress and film producer. Her rise to Hollywood stardom has media focused on both her talents and her physical features.

She has spoken candidly about being bullied for her looks, before and after becoming famous.

In an interview with Good Morning America, she talked about getting bullied before fame:

“Even when I was younger, I had boobs in middle school, and I got horribly bullied for it because no one else had gone through puberty.”

After catapulting to fame, Sydney Sweeney was in tears as she talked about receiving hurtful messages online:

“It's really important for people to see how words actually affect people...And I know everyone says like, you can't read things and you shouldn't read things, but like, I'm a f***ing person.”

There are many causes of body dysmorphia (also known as body dysmorphic disorder/BDD), including being bullied when you were a child, like Sydney Sweeney was.

Body dysmorphia is a mental health condition where somebody worries a lot about physical “flaws” that other people often don’t notice at all.

Anyone of any gender can be affected by body dysmorphia, but it’s most common in teens and young adults.

Having body dysmorphia does NOT make you vain or superficial.

It simply means you are human.

Symptoms of BDD include:

• Worrying a lot about a specific area of your body/face

• Spending a lot of time comparing your looks with other's

• Looking at mirrors a lot or avoiding them altogether

BDD can seriously impact your day-to-day life, from work to friendships to relationships.

The good news is there are many ways to treat body dysmorphia, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and antidepressants.

Additional counselling and hypnotherapy alongside CBT may help in changing subconscious thoughts to significantly improve our body image, self esteem, and feeling safe.

For Sydney Sweeney, embracing her body in her acting jobs — especially with playing “Cassie” — has helped her overcome her own struggles with body dysmorphia.

“With Cassie, I mean, everything's out there in the public and I can't really control that...So it's helped me in a therapeutic, weird way accept my body in a different way, because I had boobs in middle school, and I got horribly bullied for it because no one else had gone through puberty. And so I hated my body, and so having a character like Cassie and embracing it has been really, really powerful for myself.”

-Sydney Sweeney

When you are ready to embrace your body and explore complementary therapies to overcome body image issues and feel confident in your own skin, then contact us for a free consultation.