Social Media Addiction in Young Adult Patients withAnxiety Disorders and Depression

Abstract

Objective: Although the relationship between social media addiction (SMA) and men tal health is bidirectional, there have been very few attempts to investigate patients withdepression or anxiety disorders in terms of SMA. The first aim of this study is to determinewhether young adult patients diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders have a ten dency to become addicted to social media. The second aim of the study is to examine theeffects of 6 DSM-based personality traits (dependent, histrionic, narcissistic, obsessive-com pulsive, borderline, and paranoid) that commonly coexist with these disorders on SMA. Methods: This study was carried out with 276 participants between the ages of 18 and35 in the Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic in Gazi University Hospital, Turkey. Seventy-threepatients diagnosed with depression, 80 patients diagnosed with anxiety disorders, and123 healthy controls were recruited for the study. The SMA Scale, Hospital Anxiety andDepression Scale, and the Personality Belief Questionnaire-Short Form were administeredto the participants. Results: Patients with anxiety disorders (PAD) and patients with depression (PD) weremore addicted to social media than healthy controls (HC) despite similar frequencies ofsocial media use. Dependent, histrionic, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, borderline,and paranoid personality features in HC increased the susceptibility to SMA. Borderlineand dependent personality features comorbid with PAD increased the susceptibility toSMA. None of the personality traits comorbid with PD had an effect on SMA. Conclusion: The present study will serve as a base for future studies which explore factorsthat can make PAD or PD more vulnerable to SMA.