Self Hate Syndrome & Body Image Disorder

SHS stands for Self Hate Syndrome. BID stands for Body Image Disorder. BID is a form of SHS. I suffer from both, I know about them.

Self Hate Syndrome is a psychological disorder where you simply hate yourself. It could be in the form of believing your soul is tarnished, hating the way your voice sounds or the way you dance, ultimately seeing yourself as a person as if they were someone else that you could beat up or be happy if you never saw again. It can be due to appearance, actions or bullying of some sort.

Body Image Disorder is a psychological disorder where you can have an illogically negative view of the way you look. In a slight case, you could see a small zit as massive. In an extreme case, you could see a hideous monster in the mirror when in reality a pretty face is looking back.

Conditions that are forms of or can be caused by these include: Anorexia, self-harming, depression, fear of leaving the house, insomnia and others.

BID is possibly easier to avoid. The influence of the media doesn’t help. The fashion industry shows perfection in size zero. This causes anorexia in aspiring larger teens. This causes people to say that thin is not beautiful, and promote curves. This causes problems as well.

Everybody knows the original problem. Girls of all sizes decide they are too fat. Anorexia becomes a problem. Girls look like skeletons. Some die. It’s terrible and should be avoided. But similar issues arise from the curves-are-better approach as well. Overweight girls decide that it’s okay to be so, and pile on pounds, which causes health problems. Skinny girls decide they aren’t hot and, because they are naturally so, can’t put on the weight they desire. There’s nothing to do but hate the way you look.

With the bandwagon effect of Emo, self harm has become a common issue. Contrary to some beliefs, it mostly isn’t for attention. It can be because of personal problems, the only thing left that you can control. It can be because of SHS, the only way you can punish the despicable person that you are. Only those jumping on the Emo Self Harm bandwagon do it for attention and show off the scars, and lack of self esteem causes this lack of faith of being your real self. Self-harm is a serious problem, be it cutting, hitting yourself or malicious starvation (often misdiagnosed as anorexia).

Lack of self-esteem is a very common form of SHS. Not quite hate, not believing in yourself as a valid person causes the same effects and mental problems (yes, mental problems. I was crazy) as other forms of SHS. Severe lack of self esteem shows itself either in extreme introverted or extroverted personality.

Extreme introverted personality (not EIP, I’m all out of abbreviations) causes problems with friends and also in relationships. It’s basically really bad shyness, is quite straightforward and is very common.

Extreme extroverted personality is less straightforward. The person doesn’t want to be found as the person they see themselves, so bluff it. They are the desperate friend, always looking for new friends; they are the desperate lover, always needing a partner. Both are looking for the affection and acceptance that they cannot show themselves, just in different places.

All BID and SHS victims need help. The best help isn’t telling them that there is a problem and that they need to deal with it. The solution, however cliché and soppy, is love. If you know someone with any of the issues I mentioned, show them that you love them as a person, for who they are. Show them that they are valid, beautiful and most importantly, that this is 100% true. If you read this and felt like some of it applied to you, try to understand that it is nearly always a misgiving.

There was a time when I wouldn’t want to wake up, I burned with hatred for the mirror image. With the help of a close friend, I’m so much better, I can’t I love myself, but I don’t mind the imperfections. I laugh like a donkey and my nose is too big. Hey, who’s perfect? Some days are worse than others. But there are good days to look forward to. If you ever need my help, I know where you’re coming from, send me a message.