The relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and social media addiction: A qualitative study

Abstract

Background: Mental health and well-being are significantly harmed by exposure to trauma, resulting in PTSD. The use of social media has increased Statista (2021) recently, but little is known about how exposure to trauma and the development of PTSD affect trust in social media. Methods: This qualitative study examines how trauma exposure and the development of PTSD affected addiction in the community of military veterans diagnosed with PTSD using thematic narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews. A convenience sample of fifteen people from a social media support group for people with PTSD was interviewed, and five admitted to engaging in addictive information behaviors. Results: Participants described experiencing fear and mistrust due to being overloaded with information on social media platforms. Additionally, many claimed that particular social media content caused them to have traumatic event triggers, which further damaged their trust in these sites. Participants who had a history of exposure to trauma and the development of PTSD also mentioned utilizing social media as a coping strategy to block out their symptoms. Nevertheless, This coping strategy frequently backfired as they became more dependent on social media and could not handle their symptoms. Conclusion: Important ramifications flow from these findings for mental health providers who treat patients with trauma-related disorders. They emphasize the importance of mental health professionals addressing social media use issues as part of their treatment strategies for people with trauma-related disorders. Small sample sizes and reliance on self-reported data are two drawbacks. Larger samples and objective measures of social media use and addiction could be used in future studies to examine these findings further.

Keywords

• Trauma
• PTSD
• Addiction
• Social media
• Military veterans
• Coping mechanisms