Selfies: The Dangerous Addiction

The Oxford English Dictionary elected “selfie” as Word of The Year for 2013.  A selfie is a photo taken by oneself, with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media site.

Taking Selfies at an alarming number of times and posting them on social media may be a sign of a mental health condition related to one’s obsession with one’s looks.

Psychiatrist David Veal states: “Since the rise of Camera phones, 2 out of 3 people with Body Dysmorphic Disorder have an obsession to constantly take and post their selfies to social media sites.”

According to the doctor, cognitive behavioral therapy is needed so the person can realize the reason for their behavior and learn how to control it.

In the UK, a teenager tried to take his own life because he was not satisfied with his selfie!  Capturing the perfect shot became his obsession as he took 200 selfies in 10 hours. Danny was so fixated on his looks that he refused to leave the house and dropped almost 30 pounds in his quest to get the right photograph.  Defeated about not taking the perfect selfie, Danny eventually had an overdose but was luckily saved by his mother.

He told the mirror:  “I was constantly in search of taking the perfect selfie and when I realized I couldn’t, I wanted to die. I lost my friends, my education, my health and almost my life.”

Danny is believed to be UK’s first selfie addict and is now in treatment for his OCD, Body Dismorphic Disorder and technology addiction.  His treatment at London’s Maudsley Hospital includes taking away his IPhone for 10 minute intervals which increases to 30 minutes to an hour to control his dependence and attachment to the device.

More than 100 people seek treatment for Social Media addiction annually in the UK according to public health officials.

Pamela Ruttledge of Psychology Today said “Selfies frequently trigger perceptions of self-indulgence or attention-seeking social dependence that raises the damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t spectre of either narcissism or very low self-esteem”.

Digital Narcissism posts a new problem on some people to achieve the unattainable, without making them hungry for more.  Wanting to look like your favorite pop star, rock star, rap star, Sports star or model is already very difficult to achieve – what more when you are too lazy to do even a little work or exercise to have at least a semblance of their looks!   In the end, posting selfies online could make up for low self- esteem so when people view and “like” the picture, it creates a delusion of being popular, important, pretty or handsome.

In Thailand, health professionals are alarmed by people paying too close attention to their posts, whoever got the most number of “likes”, how many “comments” they received.  An obsessiveness about having the most number of “likes” is a symptoms that “selfies” are causing problems.  Doctors from the Thai Mental Health Department believe that coupled with low self-esteem, this behavior could progress into a serious mental health condition.

 

SOURCE:

http://www.trueactivist.com/scientists-link-selfies-to-narcissism-addiction-mental-illness

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