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Jane Mokaya has always been a chubby girl since her teenage years. In as much as her parents and her friends assured her she was fine, she always felt other girls looked better than her.  

“I would starve myself just so I can attain that perfect figure. I thought by doing this maybe I would gain that perfect figure just like a model,” she narrates. 

While all these flaws were unnoticeable to others, the feeling of imperfection made Jane feel that she wasn’t good enough. 

“I used to put on make-up even when just talking to my family at home. I remember one day looking at my eye and feeling they were smaller than others. I felt I was in a prison with nowhere to escape,” she recalls. 

It took the intervention of a counsellor when she was 28 to bring stability in her mind.

Even though she is now regaining confidence in her looks, Jane remembers how it was a taboo to even talk about how the search for the perfect figure was affecting her psychologically. 

“I remember how I would watch people go on diets and want to do that because I believed I had an imperfect figure.

While people applauded me for doing that, no one asked me how this search affected my mental health,” she says.

Body Dysmorphic Dissatisfaction, also known as dysmorphia, is a mental health condition where someone spends a lot of time worrying about the flaws on their appearance.

While sometimes the flaws in our bodies agitate a majority, the reaction of a person with body dysmorphia to their flaw may be overwhelming. 

“Individuals, especially adults with the disorder, might find they have negative thoughts about their body that are hard to control.

They may find themselves spending hours in the mirror worried about their looks.

At the extreme is when one becomes suicidal because of these negative thoughts,” says Consolata Chesang, a sociologist.

Consolata adds that both men and women find themselves battling with this issue as a result of the unrealistic standards set by what they see on social media.

There are a lot of diet programmes, body shamming and material on how people lost weight that makes others feel it is the only way to look perfect. 

“People get dissatisfied and depressed over their bodies due to a range of factors including biological, interpersonal, and sociocultural factors, especially media exposure.

Generally, poor body image could be linked with self-esteem problems, anxiety, disordered eating habits, depression and in worst instances, suicide.

In essence, body image dissatisfaction is perceived as a risk factor for development of social anxiety, depressive disorders, and suicidal ideation,” explains Dr Anthony Ireri, lecturer, and personality assessment expert, Department of Educational Psychology at Kenyatta University.

Psychologists believe the cause of body dysmorphic disorder is a combination of environmental, psychological, and biological factors. In addition, bullying or teasing may create or foster the feelings of inadequacy, shame, and fear of ridicule.

“One can know they have body image dissatisfaction and related disorders through assessing their quality of life, visiting a medical professional to assess their prevailing psychological distresses as well as evaluating their eating behaviours, since unhealthy eating patterns and eating disorders could be an outcome of body dysmorphic disorder,” notes Dr Ireri. 

A person can know they have the disorder when they perform repetitive, time-consuming, and compulsive behaviours such as over-checking themselves in the mirror, excessive grooming, reassurance seeking, or using make-up to hide or mask the perceived defect.

“Also, when the appearance concerns interfere with a person’s relationships, occupation, or other areas of functioning. Some people appear to lead a normal life despite the disorder,” he says. 

Dr Ireri adds that people who hate their bodies often take extreme measures to avoid seeing them, while some others intentionally damage their skin. There are various ways of addressing the issue. 

“The first one is cognitive behavioural therapy, which is important in helping a person change their perception of their body image.

The other is psychotherapy, which encourages an individual to open up about his/her experiences and dissatisfaction about their body to a trusted therapist.

There are also physical fitness therapies as a means of counteracting negative body image.

One can also take medication for containing depressive disorders and anxiety associated with body hate,” he recommends. 

In addition, media and social media education and awareness creation can assist in helping the person heal from the disorder. 

However, one of the reasons people don’t find healing is because many people don’t easily talk about the condition.

The masking behaviour,  where one hides their dissatisfaction with their body image, also tend to complicate detection.

“The best way is to teach our children from a young age to appreciate their bodies and to know that everybody is beautiful.

We need to reinforce it when they are young, in our media and try and avoid publishing things that are catfishing.

For those who have it I would advise them to get a support system, people who will reassure you that you are beautiful and that you are perfect the way you are.

You also need to find that inner strength to be confident,” says Sharon Kahumbu, a psychologist and co-founder of The Affordable Therapist Union (Tatu).