Take three selfies a day? Scientists think you may have a disease
“SELFITIS” is a genuine mental health condition and people who feel compelled to continually post pictures of themselves on social media may need help, psychologists have warned.
The term was coined in 2014 to describe obsessive “selfie” photograph-taking in a spoof news story.
However, researchers at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Thiagarajar School of Management in India now claim “selfitis” does exist and have even developed a “Selfitis Behaviour Scale” to assess its severity.
Dr Mark Griffiths, professor of behavioural addiction in NTU’S psychology department, said: “Whilst the story was revealed to be a hoax, it didn’t mean that the condition of selfitis didn’t exist. We have now appeared to confirm its existence.”
The scale was tested on 400 participants in India, the country with the most Facebook users as well as the highest number of deaths as a result of attempts to take dangerous “selfies”.
Celebrity culture helped to fuel the popularity of selfies, with popstars such as Justin Bieber and fashion icons including Kim Kardashian and Nicole Scherzinger regularly updating their profiles with pictures.
The findings, published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, identified three levels of “selfitis”, varying from “borderline” through “acute” to “chronic”. Researchers found that typical “selfitis” sufferers were attention seekers, often lacking in self confidence, who were hoping to boost their social standing.
However, Sir Simon Wessely, professor of psychological medicine at King’s College London and a former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, was sceptical.
“The research suggests that people take selfies to improve their mood, draw attention to themselves, increase their self confidence and connect with their environment,” he said. “If that is true then this paper is itself an academic ‘selfie’.”
Dr Mark Salter, a spokesman for The Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “Selfitis doesn’t exist, and it shouldn’t exist. There is a tendency to try and label a whole range of complicated and complex human behaviours with a single word. But that is dangerous because it can give something reality where it really has none.”