Facebook can make you mentally ill: Study
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Facebook and other
social networking sites may affect your mental health by causing psychotic
episodes and delusions, researchers warn. As Internet access becomes
increasingly widespread, so do related psychopathologies such as Internet
addiction and delusions related to the technology and to virtual relationships,
according to the study.
Computer
communications such as Facebook and chat groups are an important part of this
story, said Dr Uri Nitzan of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine
and the Shalvata Mental Health Care Center.According to Nitzan, patients shared
some crucial characteristics, including loneliness or vulnerability due to the
loss of or separation from a loved one, relative inexperience with technology,
and no prior history of psychosis or substance abuse.
In each case, a
connection was found between the gradual development and exacerbation of
psychotic symptoms, including delusions, anxiety, confusion, and intensified
use of computer communications. The good news is that all of the patients, who
willingly sought out treatment on their own, were able to make a full recovery
with proper treatment and care, Nitzan said.
While technologies
such as Facebook have numerous advantages, some patients are harmed by these
social networking sites, which can attract those who are lonely or vulnerable
in their day-to-day lives or act as a platform for cyber-bullying and other
predatory behaviour, he said. All three of Nitzan's patients sought refuge from
a lonely situation and found solace in intense virtual relationships. Although
these relationships were positive at first, they eventually led to feelings of
hurt, betrayal, and invasion of privacy, said Nitzan. "All of the patients
developed psychotic symptoms related to the situation, including delusions
regarding the person behind the screen and their connection through the
computer," he said.
Two patients began to
feel vulnerable as a result of sharing private information, and one even
experienced tactile hallucinations, believing that the person beyond the screen
was physically touching her. Some of the problematic features of the Internet
relate to issues of geographical and spatial distortion, the absence of
non-verbal cues, and the tendency to idealise the person with whom someone is
communicating, becoming intimate without ever meeting face-to-face.
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