Lana Condor Shares Her Mental Health Techniques For Body Dysmorphia

Actress Lana Condor is speaking up about 'body dysmorphia' after suffering from the condition for many years. In a new interview, the actress renowned for playing Lara Jean Covey in the romantic comedy "To All the Boys" film series (2018-2021) had a lot to say about her feelings.

Her condition is a mental ailment defined by the obsessive belief that some feature of one's body or appearance is significantly wrong and requires extraordinary steps to conceal or correct it.

The actress has lived with the condition for a long time and believes that celebrities have it far worse since body dysmorphia "is heightened in the entertainment industry."

Read below for more details.

Condor discussed her battle with "Body Dysmorphia" in an interview published in the Wondermind newsletter (Via Yahoo), highlighting her challenge in attempting not to judge her physical appearance adversely.

According to the actress, working in the entertainment industry has made it harder to maintain her mental health as it forces her to continually assess her looks while performing her roles in front of the camera.

"I see myself all day long on cameras and monitors and super close up and far behind, and you can't really escape yourself — and nor do I want to," she said. "But if negative self-talk is alive and well in my brain and I can't escape myself, then I'm miserable."

Having come to terms with the ailment, the actress has been focused on fighting against the sad emotions that come with body dysmorphia, realizing that being immersed in negative thoughts was detrimental to her long-term happiness.

However, she acknowledged that she is still working on some aspects of her mental health, noting, "I think right now positive self-image and self-talk is probably one that I'm working on the most. And that's a practice that you kind of have to do every day."

To set her mind on only positive self-image thoughts, Condor applied several mental health techniques, one of which she mentioned was reciting a daily mantra.

"'You are stronger than you know.' And I write that all the time," she said. "I start my day with that mantra; I go to bed with that mantra because, well, I just genuinely believe that. And I think everyone has their self-doubts, their fears."

She explained that the mantra serves as a reminder that, no matter what problems she has faced or will encounter in the future, her innate resilience as a person will help her persevere.

Furthermore, the actress claimed that she engages in regular domestic activities like "cooking dinner" and "washing the dishes" to ground herself and reinforce the idea that she's "still a human with a life," adding that her life wasn't simply about her professional work.

She also does "journaling," uses "essential oil" to relax, and sits outside with her crystals balls while listening to sound baths music.

For others in the same situation as herself, the actress gave some advice, which she also stated she wishes her younger self had known.

"Share your feelings with someone who feels safe for you. Don't bottle it up. I bottled it up a lot when I was younger about things that I was going through — and I'm still in it," she explained in the interview.

She continued: "It took so much time and practice to even 1. identify it, and then 2. to unlearn. I think that if I had felt more safe in terms of sharing whatever was going on with me at that time, I think that it would've saved me a lot of time."

Despite making great strides as regards her mental health, Condor admitted that being comfortable in one's own skin was tough, but she is eager to continue her journey. "it's always just a journey," she added. "It's an everyday journey, and that's good. That's what a practice is."

Condor recently starred in "Moonshot," a 2022 American science-fiction romantic comedy film directed by Chris Winterbauer and written by Max Taxe. The narrative revolves around Sophie Tsukin (Condor), a college student who assisted a barista called Walt (Cole Sprouse) in sneaking into a space shuttle bound for Mars.

Rounding up the cast were Mason Gooding, Emily Rudd, Zach Braff, Cameron Esposito, Sunita Deshpande, Davey Johnson, and Lukas Gage. HBO Max released the film on its streaming platform on March 31, 2022, and it has since garnered average reviews.

For her next project, the actress will feature in Dave Green's "Coyote vs. Acme," an upcoming American live-action/computer-animated legal comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group. Alongside Condor, the film will star "Peacemaker" actor John Cena and "Saturday Night Live" alum Will Forte.

"Guardians of the Galaxy" filmmaker James Gunn will executive-produce the flick, which is set for release sometime in 2023.