The Selfie Sham: Taking selfies is not a mental disorder.

The obsession with taking pictures of oneself with a cell phone can be worrying.

Attention:

Social networks have recently spread false informationThe APA, it was claimed, had included a disorder called "Selfitis" which refers to the obsession with taking selfies with a cell phone. Although it is true that there are people who are too obsessed with wanting to show a good image of themselves in the networks, the truth is that the American Psychiatric Association has not made any mention of this supposed disorder..

In order to educate about this issue, we have compiled the "hoax" article that has been the subject of so much attention and controversy.

Have you ever thought about what is the meaning of your profile picture on Facebook, Twitter, InstagramWhat's the point of uploading all those self-portraits daily to your social networks?

From people with a normal life to celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Kelly Brooks, Lana del Rey and Kim Kardashian upload daily photos and self-portraits of their daily lives. Many would think that these self-portraits have no meaning, but according to the American Psychiatric Association (better known by its acronym APA) during its annual meeting, held in Chicago in 2014, people who compulsively take selfies may suffer from a mental disorder called "Selfitis," and according to APA this compulsive act of taking self-portraits occurs because of that lack of self-esteem and to fill a void in intimacy.

Research on Selfitis

In 2013, Nadav Hochman, Lev Manovich and Jay Chow analyzed two million photos from the social network Instagramwhich were collected in five different cities around the world. The analysis of these photos yielded relevant information, such as for example that women between 23 and 25 years of age are the ones who take more selfies.. Another curious fact is that women in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo smile the most and turn their heads an average of 16.9 degrees when taking a self-portrait, when the average for all countries is no more than 12 degrees. As we can see, it was a study of an exhaustiveness almost to the point of absurdity.

But this does not mean that men are exempt from suffering from this disorder, since there is a good percentage of men who compulsively take this type of self-portraits.

A research carried out by psychologists revealed other revealing data about Selfitis. For example, it was found that the more selfies a person takes and spreads through social networks, the more damaged their relationship with friends on social networks tends to be. Therefore, we can conclude that people who believe that by taking dozens and dozens of selfies and uploading them to social networks they will achieve more popularity and friendships, are mistaken..

How to identify a person with Selfitis?

To diagnose a person with Selfitis, it is not only taken into account that a person takes a selfie. The fact of taking a self-portrait from time to time is not a sign that a person suffers from a pathology. In order for us to speak of selfitis, the number of selfies must be significant during the day, but also the number of selfies taken during the day is taken into account.But it also takes into account the compulsion to share these photos on their social networks..

A person with Selfitis may take more than three self-portraits per day and share the same photo more than twice on different social networks such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. It is also an identifier of the disorder the fact that they may copy poses of people who obtained a lot of social repercussion in their photos, and may even present anxiety and depression if their selfie did not get the like expected.

The phases of Selfitis

According to the APAthere are 3 stages or phases of Selfitis which are as follows:

• Borderline SelfitisBorderline selfitis: the person only takes a minimum of three selfies a day, but without sharing them on social networks.

• Acute selfitisacute selfitis: the subject takes self-portraits at least three times a day, and then shares each of them on social networks.

• Chronic selfitisSelfie obsession: occurs when the person feels an uncontrollable urge to take selfies all day long, as well as to share these photos on social media more than six times a day.

Treatment for selfie obsession

At the annual meeting of the APA it was concluded that the best possible treatment for Selfitis is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

A problem that should give us pause for thought

The underlying problem we observe with the obsession for selfies is not exactly the smartphone fever, but rather the image culture.What does it tell us if an adolescent spends hours taking pictures of himself and then showing them on social networks? In many cases, it may indicate poor self-esteem and the need to feel accepted by others.

In this sense, Selfitis is the tip of the iceberg of a problem that is not strictly psychopathological but is related to the values that prevail in our society, a society in which aesthetics and personal relationships acquire a central role in the self-image of the adolescent. Taking selfies does not necessarily mean that there is a psychological problem behind it, but in some cases it can be a psychological problem.But in some cases it can be an unmistakable symptom that something is not quite right.