Episode 32 Danny Gray - recovering from body dysmorphic disorder

In this episode, Olivia Wood (Liv) shares her journey with undiagnosed autism and ADHD, as well as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Liv explains how learning to understand her conditions helped her build self-esteem and self-compassion and reclaim her life from BDD.

Our guest for this episode is Danny Gray, whose organisation JAAQ (or Just Ask a Question) is the podcast’s champion sponsor as a result of the Big Give campaign. Danny tells us about his 18-year journey with BDD and how he manages to stay well today.

Elliot Ditton is a writer and performer whose BDD came into full force following a chance sighting of himself in a mirror on the way to a Beyoncé concert. In this episode, he discusses the early signs of his condition, the triggers that exacerbated it, and his path to recovery.

Billie McPhilbin is a trainee counselling psychologist at the University of Manchester and a lead facilitator on the BDD Foundation’s Overcoming BDD Programme. In this episode, she shares her experiences of struggling with BDD in her late teens, the steps she took towards recovery and the lessons she learned along the way.

A psychotherapist and the founder and director of the Los Angeles BDD & Body Image Clinic, Arie has dedicated his career to working with people with BDD. In this episode, he shares some of the fascinating insights he’s gained from those thousands of hours of experience.

After suffering with BDD for many years, Tilly is now reaping the benefits of all the time and effort she put into recovering from the condition. Her story proves that if you keep putting in the work, you will get something out of it.

Eva has been recovered from BDD for 20 years, so brings loads of wisdom and experience to this episode. (Which is number 27, not 26, as I say in the intro!) It’s a little different from the others in that Eva tells us her story directly, in four parts.   

George shares his lived experience of muscle dsymorphia, dips into the huge amount of knowledge he’s gained and explains why he’s made it his life’s work to raise awareness and improve treatment of the condition.

Rachel shares her experience of BDD and how everything from working at a cat hotel to learning ballroom dancing has helped her to manage the disorder and find joy.

Simon describes how the brutal bullying he suffered at school set him on a long journey with body dysmorphic disorder, which culminated in a transformative stay in psychiatric hospital and writing a book about his experiences.