The Selfitis farce: taking selfies is not a disorder

Attention:

Social networks have recently spread false information: The APA, it was said, had included a disorder called "Selfitis" that referred to the obsession with taking selfies with the mobile phone. Although it is true that there are people who are too obsessed with wanting to show a good image of themselves on the networks, the truth is that by the American Psychiatric Association there has been no mention of this alleged disorder.

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

Have you ever stopped to think what does your profile picture meanFacebook, Twitter, Instagram? What's the point of uploading all those selfies daily to your social media?

From people with normal lives to celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Kelly Brooks, Lana del Rey, and Kim Kardashian upload daily photos and self-portraits of their everyday lives. Many will think that these self-portraits have no meaning, but according to the

American Psychiatric Association (better known by its acronym in English APA) during their annual meeting, held in Chicago in 2014, people who compulsively take selfies can suffer from a mental disorder called "Selfitis", and according to APA, this compulsive act of taking self-portraits occurs due to a lack of self-esteem and to fill a void in privacy.

Research on Selfitis

In 2013, Nadav Hochman, Lev Manovich and Jay Chow analyzed two million photos from the social network Instagram, which were collected in five different cities around the world. The analysis of these photos yielded relevant information, such as that female people in the 23-25 ​​age range take the most selfies. Another curious fact is that the women of the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo are the ones who smile the most and turn their heads in average 16.9 degrees at the time of taking a self-portrait, when the average of all countries does not exceed 12 degrees. As we can see, it was a study of a completeness 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.

An investigation by psychologists yielded other revealing facts about Selfitis. For example, it was learned that the more selfies a person takes and disseminates through social networks, the more damaged their relationship with friends on social networks tends to be seen. Therefore, we can conclude that People who believe that taking dozens and dozens of selfies and uploading them to social networks will achieve more popularity and friendships are wrong.

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 any kind of sign that you have a pathology. In order for us to talk about Selfitis, the number of selfies must be significant during the day, pBut the compulsion to share these photos on their social networks is also taken into account.

A person with Selfitis can 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 identifying the disorder the fact that he copies poses of people who obtained a lot of social repercussion in their photos, and he can present anxiety Y depression if his selfie didn't get the like expected.

The phases of Selfitis

According to the APA, there are 3 stages or phases of Selfitis which are the following:

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

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

• Chronic selfitis: occurs when the person feels an uncontrollable urge to take selfies throughout the day, as well as to share such photos on social networks more than six times a day.

Treatment for the obsession with selfies

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

A problem that should make us reflect

The underlying problem that we see with the obsession with selfies is not exactly the fever of smartphones, but the image culture. What does it reveal to us that a teenager spends hours taking photos and then shows them on social networks? In many cases, it may indicate a 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 values that prevail in our society, a society in which aesthetics and personal relationships acquire a central role in the self-image of the Teen. Taking selfies does not necessarily mean that there is a psychological problem behind, but in some cases it can be an unequivocal sign that something is not quite right.