Online dating mental health

Online dating mental health

 · Potential Drawbacks of Online Dating. Forty-nine percent of users with a pre-existing mood disorder report that use of online dating aggravates their depressive symptoms, while 20% state that online dating was actually beneficial to their mood.    · One study published in BMC Psychology in March found that people who use online dating apps are more likely to be depressed, anxious, or to feel distressed as a result. Another study in Body Image, published in , showed that female Tinder users struggled with body image issues and that male users struggled with low self-esteem  · Online Dating Anxiety, Emotional Pain and Trauma There are a variety of reasons why people give dating apps a try: love, companionship, new in the city, loneliness, validation, boredom, scams, research, sales or to get into someone’s head. Not everyone who joins a dating app is in a Estimated Reading Time: 8 mins

Psychological Effects Of Online Dating & Mental Health

A therapist's blog about mental health matters. As an affiliate of programs including Amazon and BetterHelp, we make commissions from qualifying sales. We all know somebody who found love on an online dating app.

If you are reading this, that person is probably not you. For most of us, online dating is frustrating, especially if you take it seriously. Potential suitors are often flighty, defensive, and shallow. People lie. People ghost. Sure, you may find exactly what you are looking for. But more than likely, you just end up being grossed out by the behavior of strangers, online dating mental health. Online dating apps were supposed to make things easier. Online dating mental health were supposed to facilitate the search for true love.

Instead, more and more users of apps like Tinder have discovered the dangers of online dating often outweigh the potential rewards. While this post is not meant to discourage you from dating online, it is meant to educate you about the psychological risks, so that you will be in a better position to protect yourself.

Dating is inherently risky. Most relationships fail. Sometimes, you get your heart broken. Online dating, however, takes those costs to another level. In earlythe Pew Research Center published the results of a study about online dating in America. While online dating mental health does note a few positive features, online dating mental health, like convenience, the study also identifies some concerning trends.

One study published in BMC Psychology in March found that people who use online dating apps are more likely to be depressed, anxious, or to feel distressed as a result. Another study in Body Imageonline dating mental health, published inshowed that female Tinder users struggled with body image issues and that male users struggled with low self-esteem.

It may be a online dating mental health of both. What is clear is that we should be careful. Online dating is essentially a form of social mediaonline dating mental health, and we all know that social media interactions tend to be more toxic, divisive, and antisocial than most real world interactions.

The bottom line: one of the dangers of online dating is exposure to stressors that dispose some users to increased amounts of depression and anxiety. When dating in the real world, online dating mental health, most of us only have one or two opportunities at a time. A friend who has a friend, or perhaps someone you meet at a bar.

Those are manageable numbers. But what if your friend had friends they wanted you to meet? When we have too many choices, decisions become overwhelming, online dating mental health. The famous jam experiment documents this phenomenon well, online dating mental health. Basically, they found that online dating mental health make better decisions when they have fewer choices, online dating mental health.

He states that having too many choices is both exhausting and paralyzing, promotes unrealistic expectations, and encourages self-blame if online dating mental health make the wrong decision. Think about how this applies to the world of online dating. How many hundreds of potential matches have you swiped left on without giving so much as a second glance? How many times has the same thing happened to you? The bottom line: one of the dangers of online dating is an overabundance of choice.

It stresses you outincreases your anxiety, and leads to frustration and unhappiness. Rejection is a fact of life. There are more than 7 billion people on the planet, and not all of them are going to like you.

Learning to deal with rejection in healthy ways is a key feature of adulthood. But surely we were never meant to be bombarded with rejection, right? Online dating mental health dating apps do make it easier to meet people. But they also make it a lot easier to get rejected by them, too. That means the online dating mental health majority of users will experience some form of rejection by hundreds if not thousands of other users. In fact, rejection is so commonplace in the online dating world that new terms had to be invented to catalog its various forms.

Some of my favorites:. People not only react strongly when they perceive others have rejected them, but a great deal of human behavior is influenced by the desire to avoid rejection. Consider how well you handle strong negative emotions before you proceed. The bottom line: one of the dangers of online dating is allowing rejection by strangers to compromise your self-esteem.

You need to understand that the behavior of others has nothing to do with your worth. How many of you reading this have been catfished?

Or how about kittenfished? The relative anonymity of online dating is inherently problematic when it comes to establishing trust. As trust is critical for the development of healthy, secure, and satisfying relationships, online dating mental health follows that trust issues have a way of sabotaging them. People who struggle with trust issues also tend to struggle with anxious attachment styles, jealousy, low self-esteem, online dating mental health, and even intimate partner violence IPV.

Measure your expectations, and demand honesty and transparency from people you meet online. There are plenty of good, honest people who use online dating apps.

Those who fit that description will have no problem revealing their true selves to you. Those who do not will reveal themselves as well. You just have to know what to look for. As a general rule, if you feel like someone is trying to deceive you, they probably are. Trust your gut; intuition exists for a reason. The bottom line: one of the dangers of online dating is it can make you jaded. Trust issues ultimately compromise your ability to form healthy relationships with others.

Internet addiction is a serious matter. Research on dating app addiction is still in its infancy, but the data suggests it is a cause for concern. Obsession and compulsion are defining features of any addiction. Unfortunately, online dating apps can be incubators for those two behaviors. How many times have you found yourself compulsively swiping through potential partners? How many times have you found yourself obsessing over potential matches? Will they respond? Will they like me?

Will I ever find true love? Most online daters will never develop an addiction, but the point here is that online dating apps make it easier for those problematic behaviors to fester.

Some notable statisticsfrom a recent survey conducted by Match. One of the best things you can do is limit the time you spend using these apps. You just need to be smart about it. Online dating is NOT the same as dating someone you met through a friend, or at Church, or in school.

You are going to be lied to. You are going to be rejected. It is simply the way online dating works. As you go forward, be aware of the psychological dangers of online dating and take steps to protect your mental health.

Get support from your family and friends. We all deserve love. But nobody deserves to have their mental health compromised as they search for it. How has your mental health been affected by online dating? Share your experiences in the comments section below. Then, get matched with a licensed therapist via video, phone, or text. Enjoyed reading this post?

Here are some more just like it:. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Reviewed for accuracy by Randy Withers, MA, NCC, online dating mental health, LCMHC, LCAS. Licensed Therapist and Managing Editor of Blunt Therapy, online dating mental health. Sign up today! In other words, Blunt Therapy is a blog about the kind of things that people go to therapy for. Now offering professional life coaching services to select clients.

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How Online Dating Affects Mental Health and Behavior

 · Online Dating Anxiety, Emotional Pain and Trauma There are a variety of reasons why people give dating apps a try: love, companionship, new in the city, loneliness, validation, boredom, scams, research, sales or to get into someone’s head. Not everyone who joins a dating app is in a Estimated Reading Time: 8 mins Right from becoming a victim to identity or financial frauds to brief, deceitful and virtual nature of relationships, online dating poses a serious danger to the person’s sense of self and his or her relationships with others which in turn lead to many mental health-associated blogger.com: Tejaswini Bhave  · One study published in BMC Psychology in March found that people who use online dating apps are more likely to be depressed, anxious, or to feel distressed as a result. Another study in Body Image, published in , showed that female Tinder users struggled with body image issues and that male users struggled with low self-esteem