Selfies And Mental Illness


Doctors from different parts of the world have noted that there is a close relationship between selfies and mental illnesses. This assertion is not just a hypothesis but some people have suffered from narcissism, a mental illness, and end up attempting suicide.

Narcissism is a mental illness condition which occurs as a result of a person’s obsession of being recognised and gratification through physical looks and vanity. With the existence of the many social platforms on the internet, the possibilities of people suffering from narcissism increase by the day. One reason for the increase of such possibilities is the need for a good profile photo by people who create accounts on these social platforms and the need to update them regularly.

In addition to narcissism, selfies are contributing to the development of body dysmorphic disorder. Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental condition that leads to a person’s belief that his physical appearance is imperfect and should be fixed. Selfies contribute to this disorder due to the fact that most people usually take tens of selfies prior to getting the one that impresses them. In the process of taking these numerous photos, a person changes angles, restyles the hair, applies different make up, smiles in different ways and poses differently.

This might be a story that you can relate with, either from a personal experience or the situation with one of your friends. In the event whereby you do not relate with this situation could be you would like to know about a real life occurrence of a mental illness due to selfies.

Danny Bowman is a British teenager. He was so obsessed with taking selfies that he could spend 10 hours in a day taking several selfies in order for him to pick the perfect one. During that time, he could take approximately two hundred photos. This obsession negatively affected Danny’s life: he dropped out of school, lost almost 30 pounds and attempted committing suicide. Prior to his suicide attempt, Danny had become a full time selfie taker and never left the house for a period of six months. Luckily for him, his mother was able to save him from the suicide attempt.

The obsession with personal appearance results from personal judgement, judgement by others and the lavish lifestyle of pop stars. Moreover, most education systems do not address children’s personal development. Therefore, apart from pushing a child to acquire skills useful for a career development or nurturing of a talent, it is important for a child to be taught self development.

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