A 28-year-old sales executive was suffering from sleeplessness and bouts of sadness after losing his job. When he sought psychological help, his counsellor advised him to do one simple thing: delete his social media account. The counsellor had pinned his excessive Facebook usage as one of the key triggers for his problem.
From posting wild party pictures to constantly commenting on other people’s posts and chatting online, Roshan Mayekar (name changed) would spend nearly four hours on Facebook every day while he worked in the sales department of an insurance company. An offensive comment he posted on a senior colleague’s status message eventually led to his sacking. Without a job, the time he spent on the social networking site went up to eight hours a day.
“We diagnosed him with behavioural addiction-induced clinical depression. Facebook was a contributing factor to his depression,” said Sheetal Bidkar, clinical psychologist and addiction therapist from Suasth One Step, a de-addiction and wellness clinic in Kemps Corner.
Identifying the problem
Roshan, a resident of Mumbai’s western suburbs, chose a clinic that was far from his residence to prevent neighbours and relatives from prying. In May, when he chose to seek help, he had been without a job for three months. “He had been to several interviews, but nothing was working out,” said Ms. Bidkar.
She said after a few psychotherapy sessions, the contributing factor became evident.
He revealed that he was pulled up by his senior colleague for not meeting the sales target for one month. The colleague had spoken to him in a condescending tone in a group meeting. A few days later, when the senior posted a message praising his team’s performance, Roshan commented on it: “You appear to be a good boss, but that’s not true.” A week later, he was given the pink slip.
“That is when we got a hint that something was wrong with his impulse, and that he indulged in confrontational, sensation-seeking behaviour,” said Ms Bidkar.
Bid for popularity
Roshan told the counsellors that Facebook was his way to express. He had three or four friends in the real world, but had made 1,170 friends on Facebook in a year’s time, mostly women. “We learnt that his real personality and his Facebook personality were completely opposite. He would post shirtless pictures from parties, where he had had alcohol. He would constantly check the number of ‘likes’, and said his popularity was evident from the fact that he got up to 900 ‘likes’ on some pictures,” Ms. Bidkar said.
The counsellors also linked Roshan’s unemployment to his social media profile, and convinced him to delete the account for the time being.
“It definitely worked. HR professionals scan social media profiles nowadays. In September, Roshan got a job, two weeks after he closed his account,” said Ms. Bidkar.
The counsellors have said he can create a new profile after a break, but that he has to watch out for what he is posts. Ms Bidkar said, “At times, immense addiction leads to lack of judgement.” She is currently in the process of sending the case study to the Indian Journal for Mental Health.
