Gelisim News

Is social media a cause of dysmorphophobia?

Expert psychologist Haydeh Faraji said that social media can cause dysmorphophobia known as body perception disorder. Faraji stressed that this disease is seen 6 times more in adolescents than adults.

Stating that people who frequently use social media experience 3 times more anxiety and depression than rare users, expert psychologist Faraji said: “The confrontation with people and lives that seem perfect makes us feel unsatisfied about our own appearance and life and makes us feel incomplete, inadequate and unhappy. The results of our unfair comparison made do not only result in this, but because our mind is constantly occupied by these thoughts, our school / business success decreases, our self-esteem decreases and we experience depression.

“WE IDENTIFY OURSELVES WITH SOCIAL MEDIA”

Underlining that humans are social beings, Faraji said: “As a result of sociality, people have an inner urge to determine his development or point by comparing themselves with others. Because of this comparison, we feel good when we decide that we are at a better point than the other, and when we decide that we are at a worse point, we feel bad. However, the rapid and unconscious increase in the use of social media causes us to constantly compare ourselves with others.”

“THE DESIRE TO CHANGE THE BODY CAN TURN INTO A DISEASE”

Faraji stated that the use of social media like Instagram and Facebook causes dissatisfaction with the one’s hair, skin, face, weight and body.
Expert psychologist Faraji from Istanbul Gelisim University said: “The desire to make changes can range from an ordinary desire to a body dysfunction disorder, which we call dysmorphophobia. These people are constantly dealing with a bodily defect that doesn't really exist, but that they think it exists, or that they're over-magnifying. They often do excessive exercise and strict diets, and they can spend a lot of money on flaw-covering cosmetics and clothing. They have had multiple aesthetic operations, but they never get the look they want and they can't fix their “flaws”. In the following stages, either the body becomes unable to handle repetitive aesthetic operations, or people may lose their hopes that they will be able to fix their physical defects and commit suicide.”

“ONE OUT OF 4 PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENCE DYSMORPHIC DISORDER IS SUICIDAL”

Pointing out that one out of every 4 people with body dysmorphic disorder is suicidal, Faraji said that one in every 8 people tries that.
 
Saying that these patients are in a great tendency to constantly check their body parts that they don't like in mirrors or selfie techniques, to compare with other people, Expert Psychologist continued:
“They often tend to get the opinion of others and question how their flaws look. They check the body part they don't like very often, change their minds very often and therefore tend to indecisively change their clothes, hairstyle and makeup. Diet, excessive exercise, weighing themselves too often, changing skin colour (solarium, sunbathing, laser and similar applications, chemical skin peeling methods), such as skin picking is very common. Similarly; hair, hair removal, nail or cuticle eating, excessive spending on flaw-covering cosmetics and clothes can be counted among these kind of behaviour disorders.”
Indicating that the use of social media is a risk factor for women as well, Faraji said that in particular, women can receive far more criticism about how they look and constantly compare themselves to other women around them as a result of living in today's ideal world of beauty. However, especially families with adolescent children should be careful about this issue. Dysmorphophobia is seen 6 times more in adolescents than in adults.