In the last few years, it’s become incredibly popular to take selfies and post them to social media, in fact, it seems that some people even spend more time taking photos than being present and enjoying their surroundings. In 2018, this practice of taking photos of yourself has become almost normal and acceptable, with selfie sticks being sold left, right, and center, and celebs like Kim Kardashian turning the simple selfie into a money making venture (she compiled a bunch of her selfies into a book titled, Selfish). However, it turns out that taking multiple selfies is not just narcissistic, but in some cases, also a complex psychological disorder.

According to The Independent, research from Nottingham Trent University's psychology department has indicated that if you feel compelled to take selfies, you may have "selfitis," a term used to describe the obsessive taking of selfies. Although this word was first created as a spoof back in 2014, researchers have reportedly since looked into the obsession, and noted that just because the original story was not true, does not mean that this disorder doesn’t exist. Research has been conducted on a group of 400 participants from India, which the publication notes is the country with the most Facebook users. It was from this research that they determined a scale for measuring how severely people are affected by "selfitis."

Dr. Mark Griffiths, from Nottingham Trent University's psychology department, told The Independent, “A few years ago, stories appeared in the media claiming that the condition of "selfitis" was to be classed as a mental disorder. While the story was revealed to be a hoax, it didn't mean that the condition of selfitis didn't exist. We have now appeared to confirm its existence and developed the world's first Selfitis Behaviour Scale to assess the condition.”

The findings have been published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction and it was titled, An Exploratory Study of ‘Selfitis’ and the Development of the Selfitis Behavior Scale, PetaPixel reports. The scale also has a list of various factors, including environmental enhancement, mood modification, and self-confidence. These factors are used to classify the participants into three categories, rating their levels of selfitis. And interestingly, the research found that men were found to have a higher degree of "selfitis" than women, with the percentages being 57.5 percent, compared to 42.5 percent for women.

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