India, six young Indians hospitalized to fight 'selfiecide'

Users who constantly check their cell phones on a daily basis are aware that they have developed a bad habit and are obsessed with their devices, but being able to completely break away from them is not easy. Six young Indians who are under observation at two major hospitals nationwide because they are suffering from severe psychiatric disorders related to compulsive cell phone use know this to their cost. This phenomenon has also been called by some ‘selfiecide’ and can be detected by symptoms of inpulsiveness and mood swings.

Taking its cue from the story of an 18-year-old girl who presented to Aiims Hospital with an alleged malformation in her nose, but was later transferred to the psychiatry department, the Mail Today newspaper devotes its front page to the issue of selfie addiction in India. And he points out that three patients are being treated in the same Aiims and three others in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Psychiatrist Nand Kumar of the Aiims told the newspaper that the three patients taken into treatment “felt a compelling need to pose in front of their smartphones” and because of this “they had developed a condition known as ‘body dysmorphic disorder’ (continuous thinking about one’s own physical defect, ed.) that led them to obsessive compulsive disorder”.Experts, the paper adds, believe that the symptoms of this disorder are so subtle that many of those who constantly use their cell phones to portray themselves in ‘selfie’ do not realize why they then feel depressed and disoriented.

According to the American Psychological Association (Apa), about 60 percent of women who suffer from this obsessive disorder do not realize it. Summing up, as some studies explain, points out Giovanni D’Agata, president of the "Sportello dei Diritti," in reality cell phone addiction is an attempt used to improve mood, web surfing a way to reassure the insecure and receive comfort, even if temporary.