Therapy is Needed for Social Media Addiction: Study

Cognitive behavioral therapy can be vital in lowering social media-caused depression, anxiety, and stress, a study suggests.

About 10% of Americans, equivalent to 33.19 million people, are addicted to social media, according to a California State University study.

The social media on Instagram is particularly bad for young people because it leads to dysmorphia- a mental health disorder focused on perceived flawed appearance, the Mayo Clinic states.

A meta analysis by British researchers at the University College London analyzed 23 previous studies between 2004 to 2022 looking at potential interventions to problematic social media usage. The found that quitting cold turkey was not as effective as receiving legitimate treatment for the usage

In the research, published Friday in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, found that seeking therapy could improve the mental well-being of a person is 83% of cases. This is compared to 20% of the time when social media use is limited and 25% when it is dropped all-together.

Therapy interventions were the most impactful, helping mental wellbeing by 83%.

Dr. Ruth Plackett, lead author of the study, said that mental health problems are increasing, and so is the use of social media, but therapy can help improve mental health.

"Health and care professionals should be aware that reducing time spent on social media is unlikely to benefit mental wellbeing on its own," she said.

She adds, "Instead, taking a more therapy-based approach and reflecting on how and why we are interacting with social media and managing those behaviors could help improve mental health."

Mental health issues can lead to death, with depression being one of the leading factors contributing to the disability, according to a statistic by the World Health Organization.

About 14.8% of deaths across the globe are caused by mental health problems, a study by the National Institute of Health found.