Health & Medicine, Human Interest, International

AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION MAKES IT OFFICIAL: ‘SELFIE’ A MENTAL DISORDER

476 Comments
Photo credit: AP
Photo credit: AP

Chicago, Illinois – The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has officially confirmed what many people thought all along: taking ‘selfies’ is a mental disorder.

The APA made this classification during its annual board of directors meeting in Chicago. The disorder is called selfitis, and is defined as the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self  and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy.

APA said there are three levels of the disorder:

  • Borderline selfitis : taking photos of one’s self at least three times a day but not posting them on social media
  • Acute selfitis: taking photos of one’s self at least three times a day and posting each of the photos on social media
  • Chronic selfitis: Uncontrollable urge to take photos of one’s self  round the clock and posting the photos on social media more than six times a day

According to the APA, while there is currently no cure for the disorder, temporary treatment is available through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).  The other good news is that CBT is covered under Obamacare.

This is unwelcome news for Makati City in the Philippines, especially for its mayor, Junjun Binay, son of the incumbent vice president.  Makati was recently named selfie capital of the world by Time Magazine. The mayor even organized a ticker tape parade after his city was bestowed the rare honor.

MORE BREAKING NEWS!! Oxford Dictionaries Announce New Words – including ‘selfitis.’

BREAKING NEWS!!  Apple, Samsung, Nokia Set To Eliminate Front-Facing Cameras From Their Smartphones.  Read the news story.

UPDATE: APA Defends Its Use of ‘Selfitis’ Terminology.

476 thoughts on “AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION MAKES IT OFFICIAL: ‘SELFIE’ A MENTAL DISORDER”

  1. Hurry! Run run run! Let’s make a drug to treat it and expensive, extensive therapy to manage it. Quick. Before people spend their money somewhere else.

    Like

    Reply

  2. Selfitis? Inflammation of self? Come on, If you are going to do an April Fools joke, at least know no self respecting psychiatrist would come up with that term, let alone the supposed APA. How about a Latin term like “nequiquam”, “se refert”, or “imaginem sui”. Do better next year

    Like

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Psihijatri smatraju pravljenje selfi fotografija mentalim poremećajem - Balkan Android

  6. The article is satire, but “selfitis” was classified as a disorder a long, long time ago… only it’s actually spelled n-a-r-c-i-s-s-i-s-m

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Campus México | Confirmado, los selfies constituyen un trastorno mental
  12. Pingback: Nothing’s Wrong with Us. | sayaNORA

  15. Did APA just came up with a name because it sounded cool? Selfitis? Inflammation of what? Taking pictures? If it is a mental disorder at least make it right and place it under the right category. I think having the urge of taking the picture three times a day is not so bad however if it disrupts your work, school or your everyday lifestyle for instance you must change clothes so you can take picture to post then that is an addiction and not an inflammation. It’s no different with the addiction on Facebook or the use of the Internet. I think they should rename the selfitis. If it is an addiction to take pictures then by all means call it selftism just like alcoholism.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Ah , you are right that most diseases ending in “itis” refer to an inflammation. In this case, APA is also right in naming it so because “selfitis” is an inflammation of the ego 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  22. ..what about that people who doesn’t upload his pic..they also have some type of psychological disorder ..lol

    Like

    Reply

  24. 2013 APA convention (American Psychological Association) was in Hawaii, the 2014 convention has yet to be held in Washington, D.C. The American PHILOLOGICAL (the study of language) Association had its meeting January of this year in Chicago.

    Like

    Reply

  26. well I take pix of myself but not daily & I don’t post them 3 times a day but do that whenever I want…

    Like

    Reply

  28. please…stop posting things like this and claiming it’s the result of psychologists’ investigation…maybe, the one who posted this one is the one with DISORDER!

    tsk tsk

    Like

    Reply

  30. But the same American Psychiatric Association some time ago has officially confirmed that homosexsuality is not a mental disorder anymore. Very interesting point of view…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  35. The article is not convincing. Do we have enough evidence that those who do selfie have low self esteem? Even if we have that evidence, Selfie seems to be only symptom for low self esteem. thus selfie in itself is not a mental disorder but may give us hint that person might have low self esteem.

    Like

    Reply
  39. Pingback: Quora

  44. selfie is an outlet of oneself….it develops selfsteem…perhaps the research doesn’t talked about the totality of the scenario…

    Like

    Reply

  46. ano bayan.. sabihin natin yung gumawa ng program cila ang may mental disorder na yan… kasi cila kumikita ng pera.. tayo nakikiuso lang..to think all people have disorder naman, iba di lang obvious like sa car, bags etc…. di ba…nothiong to worry selfie selfi lang yan… pangpalipas oras lang…i banned nyo nalang ang facebook at ibang networking sites para walang problema…

    Like

    Reply

    1. I completely disagree with you. Developers create those social networking sites without merely an intention to create disorders (thinking outside the box), instead they create such to connect users worldwide, provide entertainment, and for them to have jobs of course. Scientifically speaking, your message, “nothiong to worry selfie selfi lang yan… pangpalipas oras lang” is a fact, but partly not. have you ever thought of EXCESSIVE, or TOO MUCH taking of selfies (stated in the article you’ve just commented on)? Try to think critically, or out of the box before commenting with bias.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  47. Anything to make money! Our government tries to find any way to make money off prescription meds and make the whole world think they are sick!!!!! Oh wait let me take a selfie LMAO

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. this is adobochronicles so everything here is product of creative mind
      See the About.
      THE ADOBO CHRONICLES is your source of up-to-date, unbelievable news. Everything you read on this site is based on fact, except for the lies.

      We abide by the highest standards of creative writing and intend to make this site as respectable as possible to the extent allowed by our fertile mind. We welcome comments, but please bear in mind that this is a family-oriented site. We reserve the right to edit or censor any comment that we deem inappropriate or funnier than our posts.

      Like

      Reply
  49. Pingback: AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION MAKES IT OFFICIAL: ‘SELFIE’ A MENTAL DISORDER | Web Media: Swati

      1. Excuse me? Ngbasa ka po ba?.They categorize the disorder in three degrees. So kung hndi nman umabot sa borderline selfitis meaning wala nmang disorder yung tao, di po ba? ^_^

        Like

        Reply

  50. It will be a GLORIOUS day indeed when the Filipino people finally realize what the “Adobo Chronicles” really is (are? LOL).

    Haaaay mahal kong Pilipinas… Sometimes I have to remind myself that my efforts are ultimately for future generations. LOL

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to karl hadad Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.