Social media addiction: new therapy helps people overcome it

Pioneering therapy based in neuroscience has been launched to help people overcome ‘social media addiction’.

For most people, scrolling through their social media posts is fine and a perfectly normal way to pass time with no ill effects. 

But for some however social media has become a wholly different situation where they’re glued to their phones and feel high levels of anxiety if they don’t check it regularly.

It’s estimated that over 210 million people worldwide suffer from what has been called ‘social media addiction’ and this is predicted to rise. [Source: Science Direct] 

Although it’s not a medically recognised diagnosis, it can have serious repercussions on a person’s mental health resulting in them spending so much time on these platforms that it impacts other aspects of their life triggering anxiety and depression.

Reducing screen time is a great way to combat problematic social media use; however, if the addiction is too severe you may require professional help.

That’s why The Terence Watts BWRT Institute has created the new Social Media Addiction therapy based on their ground-breaking BrainWorking Recursive Therapy (BWRT) that is used worldwide to treat a range of psychological conditions. 

BWRT® was created in 2011 by Essex-based Terence Watts, a psychotherapist and Fellow with the Royal Society of Medicine and is based in neuroscience. 

It works by ‘freezing’ unwanted patterns and behaviour, in this case the need to check social media, and creating new neural pathways with a more positive response which is chosen by the individual. 

Because it gets at the root of the problem, BWRT works faster and there is less likelihood of relapse which often happens with other therapies.

BWRT is currently used by 2,500+ psychologists and therapists worldwide to treat a range of conditions such as anxiety, grief, phobias, fears, depression, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and now social media addiction.

Terence Watts, founder of The BWRT Institute says, “The great thing about this programme is that it doesn’t take a ‘cold turkey’ approach, nor does it try to stop anybody going on social media. It just makes it less attractive so people can comfortably get on with other things in their life.”  

How do you know if you’re addicted?

A mental health professional can help diagnose the condition, but signs include:

• First thing you do in the morning is check your social media
• Feeling anxious if you don’t check your status every few minutes
• Constantly checking the status of posts for the number of ‘likes’
• Spend a lot of time overthinking your posts before, during and after you’ve posted
• Neglecting other parts of your life in favour of scrolling

If someone is addicted, they’re probably one of two types: Compulsive or Obsessive. The first one enjoys social media, doesn’t get unduly upset about anything on it, but tends to spend far too much time on it. Then they get irritated with themselves about how much time they’ve wasted instead of getting on with other important ‘stuff’ in their lives. 

But the second one, the Obsessive type, is the one who suffers anxiety, depression or fear around the whole social media experience – and it might be worse when they have checked their social media accounts than if they have not. 

For these individuals, breaking the habit and losing the fear is extremely difficult but it can be done. It’s worse for teenagers, since they genuinely feel events more acutely than adults. To some, they appear to be over-reacting but they’re not.

This is because their brains have not yet completed a process known as ‘synaptic pruning’ and they essentially have more connections still active than they will have in their twenties. As a result, they feel things more acutely and have a higher sense of idealism and the ‘rights and wrongs’ of life generally. 

If you believe that you or a member of your family is addicted, you can seek help from a professional therapist trained in the new Social Media Addiction therapy by visiting www.bwrt-professionals.com 

If you are therapist interested in training in the new BWRT Social Media Addiction course, visit https://www.bwrt.org/products/sm-addiction