People with BDD may drop out of elementary school, high school or college because they can’t concentrate, don’t want to be seen, or are depressed because attended classes for the past three years. Instead, he’d been living with his parents. “First I started missing classes and school activities because my hair bothered me so much I couldn’t go. I was too embarrassed over it. It always looks strange. It never looks neat or natural. It sticks up and looks bizarre. If I spray it, it looks greased down. Barbers ruin it, so I cut it myself and it looks ridiculous. I spend hours in front of the mirror combing it and trying to fix it. Once I had a perm, and it looked better for a while, but when it grew out I looked like a terrorist.

“First I started missing some classes, and my grades started dropping because I couldn’t concentrate. But I was determined to blast through everything, and I pushed myself, but that didn’t work. I started missing so many classes that I took a year off. I didn’t tell the school officials why because I was too embarrassed. I tried to go back, but I couldn’t concentrate so I dropped out again.”

Rebecca had also missed many classes. “I wouldn’t go to school. I couldn’t concentrate because I’d be worrying about my skin or going to the mirror all the time to pick it. And when people saw me, I thought they were judging how it looked. I finally left college because of it. I was very active in high school, and I had lots of friends. But I couldn’t leave my room in college. After I left school I stayed in bed for two weeks…. I let myself down by leaving. I want to go back in January, but I won’t be able to succeed unless I’m feeling better. This problem is an obstacle to getting on with my life.”

*126\204\8*