You’ve seen it thousands of times on Facebook and other social media
outlets, there is even a song on the radio about it! Selfies have become
a huge trend in social media and psychiatrists and mental health
workers are linking them to mental health conditions related to
narcissism and a person’s obsession with their looks.
According to psychiatrist
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.”
“Cognitive behavioural therapy is used to help a patient to recognize
the reasons for his or her compulsive behaviour and then to learn how
to moderate it,” he told the Sunday Mirror.
I’ve personally seen this with some of my own
friends. They might take several selfies over and over again until they
find the right one. Picking out details about their eyebrows, skin,
noses, smiles, teeth, hair and so forth, all in an attempt to find the
perfect angle to make the perfect picture. Even looking at how most of
us choose our profile pictures on Facebook and other social media sites
is a huge process. Believe it or not, as harmless as these acts all
seem, they build up over time to create and create great forms of self
consciousness and false sense of confidence. Instead of being okay with
who we are no matter what, we strive to find the right picture with all
the perfect details. The more likes we get on social media sites the
happier we feel. Is this sustainable? Basing our happiness on our
profile picture or selfie picture performance?
How far can the selfie obsession go? A British male teenager went to
the extent of trying to commit suicide after he was unable to take what
he felt was the perfect selfie.
Danny Bowman
became so obsessed with capturing the perfect shot that he would spend
roughly 10 hours per day taking up to 200 selfies trying to get the
perfect shot. As things got more and more intense for Danny, he lost
nearly 30 pounds, dropped out of school and did not leave the house for
six months as he kept trying for the perfect picture. During his suicide
attempt, Bowman was saved by his mother.
“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 told The Mirror.
While this is an extreme case, it isn’t too far off from what goes
through many of the minds of young, and even older, people as they take
pictures of themselves for social media. Seeing other peoples pictures,
seeing the attention they may or may not get, we end up comparing
ourselves and the fine details of our looks. Overtime, an obsession
builds and our looks become increasingly more important to us. Something
I feel we should be focusing less and less on versus more and more.
“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,” said Pamela Rutledge in Psychology Today.
Narcissism, being obsessed with receiving
recognition and gratification from ones looks, vanity and in an
egotistical manner, is becoming a big problem in our digital age. I
personally feel a big part of this stems from judgement of self,
judgement of others and pop culture. There is a huge lack of addressing
these personal issues within the education system or other programs
youth and other young people have access to. We focus so much on
educating a person to become a trained member of society, but we do
nothing for their own personal development as a person. This is a very
important aspect of personal development that I feel should be at the
forefront of our education system.
The addiction to selfies has also alarmed health professionals in
Thailand. “To pay close attention to published photos, controlling who
sees or who likes or comments them, hoping to reach the greatest number
of likes is a symptom that ‘selfies’ are causing problems,” said
Panpimol Wipulakorn, of the Thai Mental Health Department.
The doctor believed that behaviours could generate more mental issues
in the future, especially those related to lack of confidence.
The next time you go to post an image of yourself online, or even
when you go out for the day, observe yourself and find out how much of
your thoughts are based on how you look, what you think others will
think of you and how you might be using your looks to try and make you
feel good for a short period of time. From there you can work on
accepting every aspect of who you are as being perfect and as it needs
to be without needing to look outside yourself for self-love. You are
much more than your looks.
Source:
www.huffingtonpost.com
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