Scientists link the new trend of takings selfies to mental health conditions that focus on a person`s obsession with their physical appearance.
As stated by Dr David Veal: “Two out of three of all the patients who come to see me with Body Dysmorphic Disorder since the rise of camera phones have a compulsion to repeatedly take and post selfies on social media sites.”
Dr Veal told the Sunday Mirror that “Cognitive behavioral therapy is used to help a patient to recognize the reasons for his or her compulsive behavior and then to learn how to moderate it.”
Many psychologists suggest that taking selfies causes mental illness, addiction, narcissism and even suicide. They warn parents to observe their children`s behavior and to pay attention to what they do online. Being extremely cautious is of vast importance in order to avoid any future cases as the one with Bowman.
Danny Bowman is a 19-year-old male teenager who tried to commit suicide after his failure in taking the perfect selfie. He became extremely obsessed with taking the perfect selfie so that he spent unbelievable 10 hours a day taking up to 200 selfies. The British teenager lost 30 pounds, left school, and spent six months locked up in his home in an attempt to get the right picture. He didn’t leave the house at all and would take 10 pictures right away after waking up. Unfortunately, his numerous attempts in taking the one image he wanted were unsuccessful. Frustrated and disappointed by his failure, Bowman tried to take his life by overdosing. Luckily, his mother managed to save him.
As Bowman 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.”
He is believed to be the first British selfie addict and he had undergone a therapy to treat his technology addiction as well as Body Dysmorphic Disorder and OCD.
His treatment was conducted at the the Maudsley Hospital in London, and part of the treatment included taking away his iPhone for intervals of 10 minutes, which gradually increased to 30 minutes and finally to an hour.
According to Bowman, “It was excruciating to begin with but I knew I had to do it if I wanted to go on living.”
British public health officials announced that addiction to social media, such as Twitter and Facebook is a mental disease and more than 100 patients sought treatment on an annual basis.
Pamela Rutledge gave the following statement in Psychology Today:
“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.”
The major problem that arises from the escalation of digital narcissism is that it puts huge pressure on people to achieve unfeasible goals, without making the hungrier. In order to become a model or celebrity, such as Jay Z or Beyonce, you need to work hard to achieve that status. In case you are not prepared to work hard, for your own sake it is advisable to lower your aspirations. The combination of high entitlement and a lazy ethic is not the only self-destructive thing. Few things more are self-destructive than this combination. Online manifestations of narcissism may be more than a self-presentation method to recompense for fragile and low self-esteem. When these efforts are reinforced and honored by other, they continue the distortion of reality and consolidate narcissistic delusions.
Sourced: complete-health-and-happiness
