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Social media use amplifies delusional disorders: SFU study
A new study from Simon Fraser University researchers has found a close link between high levels of social media use and psychiatric disorders that involve delusions, such as narcissism and body dysmorphic disorder. According to the recently published study in BMC Psychiatry – a systematic review of all available academic literature including scrutiny of over 2,500 publications on social media use and psychiatric disorders – forms of delusions were by far the most prevalent type of psychiatric disorders related to high social media use.
“Social media is creating conditions where delusions can more easily be generated and sustained due to the presence of platforms and apps that cater to the disorder’s causes, plus the absence of effective reality-checking,” says Bernard Crespi, a professor of biological sciences and Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Genetics and Psychology at SFU. They also point out that the features of many popular apps and platforms sustain and exacerbate mental and physical delusions, by enabling self-presentation in self-promoting but inaccurate ways. The profound difference between online and in-person social interactions – where people are more likely to have their delusions kept in check by physical and emotional reality – exacerbate deviations from mental well-being, he adds.
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