Treatment for body dysmorphic disorder is still failing queer people of colour. Stella, a pansexual Korean-Greek woman struggling with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), found that her therapists didn’t acknowledge her racialization and her queerness during her treatment, which limited its effectiveness. As Nyinawumuntu, the founder and director of the Black Healing Centre, has described it: “A lot of traditional mental health spaces are very white and cishetero-centred.” Nyinawumuntu also advises queer and trans people of colour with BDD to look for mental health professionals with similar lived experiences. Many queer and trans people of colour with BDD have also been able to find healing with non-traditional methods, including pole dancing and self-expression.

This article is published in Xtra Magazine.