Selfie
People take "selfies" in front of a wall with messages left by anti-government protesters in their encampment in central Bangkok February 25, 2014. An explosion and gunfire rang out near the sprawling anti-government protest site in the Thai capital early on Tuesday after the protesters' leader warned that government supporters were planning to bring armed militants to Bangkok. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (THAILAND - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) March 15, 2014 Reuters

Selfie is very popular nowadays, but who could have thought that it can be a life threatening obsession? Danny Bowman, 19, is the first person diagnosed in Britain with this type of obsession. He reportedly spent 10 hours every day with 200 snaps of himself, but still is not gratified with taken shots.

Appearing on the British morning TV show Daybreak, the teen explained how his selfie obsession nearly killed him and ruined his life. He shared that in his attempt to break-free from bondage of the fetish craze, he took a pill overdose to end his life. Fortunately, his mother was able to save him.

Selfie is another word for self-portrait photograph using a hand-held or phone camera. For years, it flooded the social media, with celebrities and politicians joining the trend. The word is even recently listed in the Oxford English Dictionary after naming it "Word of the Year" in 2013.

The popularity of selfie spread like wild fire in social media networks like Facebook and Instagram, and definitely the micro-blogging site Twitter that raked 3 million retweets for Ellen Degeneres' Oscars selfie. While other selfies are "likeable" there are also cases of "selfie gone bad" with a student breaking century old Hellenistic sculpture in an Italian museum after a selfie attempt. Danny Bowman is just one of the millions of people who was caught with the addiction, but this situation happened to be extreme.

"I was constantly in search of taking the perfect selfie and when I realised I couldn't I wanted to die. I lost my friends, my education, my health and almost my life." Danny said in an interview with Mirror UK.

Dr David Veal, Danny's doctor said that the teen's issue is a serious problem and not a vanity case. Danny is suffering from a mental disease called Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). While OCD causes severe anxiety to affected individuals, BDD brings a person negative thoughts about their appearance, and obsession with their imaginary flaws.

Danny's case of mental disorder manifested in the form of selfies. Understanding what he had gone through, he is currently battling to live a normal life. He had not taken a selfie for seven months now and is determined not to go back into the obsession again.

Danny have learned from experience. He is currently raising awareness regarding mental issues with the charity Fixers.

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