A TikToker spoke on her experience with “millennial age dysmorphia”—a condition that’s leaving her shocked when she’s treated her age. In late October, Helen McPherson expressed that she still feels like she’s in her 20s or even younger, and it’s not vibing with how others are responding to her.
Feeling unsatisfied with one’s appearance in older age is pretty normal, but what McPherson describes seems to be particularly common among millennials.
What is millennial age dysmorphia?
The word “dysmorphia” typically comes from body dysmorphic disorder, which is marked by a “preoccupation with a perceived defect or flaw in one’s physical appearance when, in fact, they appear normal” according to the DSM-5. This can occur at any period in one’s life, but the term “age dysmorphia” has popped up with increasing frequency online.
In recent years, millennials have spoken on a particular struggling with feeling the age they are. One theory for this phenomenon points to a consistent failure to reach what society told us were the milestones of adulthood—getting a stable job, buying a house, having kids, etc.
As such, a lot of millennials, who are now in their 30s and 40s, have a strange sense that they’re much younger. McPherson (@helsmcp) only recently became aware of how strongly this was impacting her.
@helsmcp Do you have millennial age dysmorphia? Do you feel like your exempt from aging process? Everyone else is aging but you arnt? That you look younger than you actually are? Do you identify as the age on your documents? You might have it too. #millennials #gettingolder #aging #agingbackwards ♬ original sound – Helen McPherson
“I do not identify with the age that my paperwork says I am,” she confessed. “It’s always been that secret superfix that I thought, like, ‘other people are getting old, but I’m not getting older. I’m exempt from the aging process.’”
“I almost have this inability to accept that the world around me perceives me to be the age that I am.”
Reality started to smack her in the face when nobody blinked at her joke about being perimenopausal and nobody accused her of having her kids as a teenager when she brought them to school.
It really hit when her own TikTok followers largely judged her to be in her 50s.
“I’m a literal baby!” she declared. “What are you talking about?”
“I still look for trusted adults in uncomfortable situations”
Based on the comments, McPherson isn’t alone, even if she reached self-awareness a little late. Plenty of fellow millennials feel the same type of dysmorphia.
“Exactly this! I’m 44 and less and less people are shocked,” wrote @georginaburdis. “It’s quite devastating to be honest because in my head, I’m 25. I still watch Gossip Girl and Pretty little liars, only now, I am older than the parents on those shows.”
“I still look for trusted adults in uncomfortable situations,” joked @jeauxanne.
Some offered potential explanations for this widespread generational problem.
“We have it bc we don’t have the money to feel like adults,” @nopepeople5 posited. “I’m 37 and a full lawyer and can only afford a 500 square foot apartment in Toronto and I can save for retirement but not for a house or children.”
“I still get ID’ed,” said @bypassthatnish. “I think this is adding to my delulu.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @helsmcp for comment via TikTok.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here.
