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Introduction

Anxiety is our body’s natural response to stress, which can be brought on by events or anticipations such as a job interview, the first day of school, or going on a date with someone new. Overwhelming fear, distress, or worry can trigger anxiety and panic attacks. Symptoms of anxiety include rapid breathing, increased heart rate, restlessness, trouble concentrating, and difficulty falling asleep. Not everyone will experience the same symptoms when having an anxiety attack. The symptoms of an attack include shortness of breath, dry mouth, sweating, numbness or tingling, chills or hot flashes, feeling faint or dizzy, fear, and even distress. The cause of anxiety is not currently known to researchers, but it is likely that genetics and environment factors, as well as brain chemistry, play a major role (Holland, 2018). While occasional anxiety is an expected part of life, it is not normal to experience overwhelming anxiety and panic in daily activities such as using social media. Social media, and the resulting social comparison, has many impacts on our mental and emotional well-being. The internet has taken the world by storm, and social media, which was initially professed to boast new concepts of connection, has conversely created an esteem epidemic. What started off as a platform for an online photo library and a chat room that defied real-life distance, became the stage for false impressions, self-reflections, and physical and emotional disconnection. Some social media posts may make us feel inadequate and less likely to pursue a goal, while other posts may give us confidence and boost our self-esteem. Being overwhelmed by posts that generate negative emotions can lead to anxiety and panic. However, “data has shown that when mental health professionals incorporate methods of positive psychology that encourage positive feelings and behavior, it can lead to an increased sense of well-being for certain patients” (Osterlind, 2017).

Literature Review

As social media has become more common in the lives of young adults, it is vastly important to understand the effects these sites are having; and considering the plethora of social media sites that exist across the globe, it is important to understand if there is a difference in using just one or multiple social media sites. In the corresponding studies, it was shown that nearly all (90%) of young adults use social media, and that increased use of social media is causally related to depression and anxiety symptoms. However, it is important to understand whether time spent on social media (TSSM) was the only influencing factor on these symptoms. In a study done by Primack et al. in 2017, this exact question was studied by surveying 1787 young adults across the United States. The subjects were asked how many social media platforms they use, and their depression and anxiety symptoms were measured using the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS). In this study it was found that there was a linear relationship between the amounts of social media platforms used and the severity of anxiety and depression symptoms, even when controlling for time spent on social media (Primack, Shensa, Escobar-Viera, Barrett, Sidani, Colditz, & James, 2017).

When considering the idea that social media has the potential to create negative psychological symptoms, it must also be pondered whether this same stimulus has the opportunity to be used in a way that would create positive psychological experiences. In the experiment done by D. Patterson in 2016, this curiosity was explored through the creation of a social media game. This game was called Happiness Enhancer Helper Application, or HeHa for short. This game was designed to promote the principles of positive psychology by focusing on one’s particular strengths. The results of this experiment were that the majority of users of the HeHa game system reported a more positive experience on social media than those in the control group did.

Another way social media can be problematic for adults with anxiety is they often feel they need to compare themselves with others on social media. According to Caplan (2006), people often prefer social media because they have control over how they can present themselves online, then they do in person. In this way, many people can present themselves in a way that they cannot in real life, and perhaps gain social favor they are lacking (Caplan, 2006). Caplan (2006) conducted a study on the interaction’s loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic internet use. Caplan (2006) defines problematic internet use as an issue that is composed of cognitive and behavioral indicators that ensue in negative social, academic, and professional results. According to Caplan (2006), there have been several studies that show there is a positive correlation between loneliness and negative outcomes because of internet use. Many adults are drawn to social media because they are lonely and looking to communicate with other people that they do not normally get in their day to day life (Caplan, 2006). Caplan (2006) was able to conduct this study by recruiting 343 undergraduate students, who ranged from 18 years old to 28 years old. In the results, Caplan (2006) found that social anxiety was a better predictor in analyzing preference for online social interaction than loneliness, and social anxiety provides a motivator on why most adults prefer social media use than face to face conversations.

To understand more about the correlation between social media and anxiety, we will look at a study conducted by Weeks, Rodedbaugh, Heimberg, Norton, and Jakatdar (2009). Social comparison is when people determine their social worth based on how they compare themselves to others (Festinger, 1980). According to Rapee and Heimberg (1997), fear of being judged is the major reason why some experience social anxiety. This could be why people with social anxiety tend to view themselves in a negative light (Weeks et al. 2009). In their findings, Weeks et al. (2009) found that anxiety and depression may come from our ancestors in which a situation in our lives can promote our inner survival skills to kick in.

Even though positive psychology is a fairly new branch of psychology, it has managed to challenge traditional psychology by focusing on the study of what goes right in life. People’s lives are like a roller coaster ride, they have good, bad, and everything in between, and positive psychology aims to cultivate and understand those experiences that make life meaningful. Positive psychology’s target is to challenge the universal belief of the disease model, while aiming its focus on strength, positive traits, and promoting human potential (Peterson, 2006, p.11-13).

With the prevalent and rising use of social media, several studies have found a positive correlation between social media use and anxiety/panic attacks. For example, Facebook use has been linked with the activation of the physiological stress response. Some of the events that elicit anxiety and panic attacks are related to cyber-bullying or receiving negative feedback from peers, the pressure to keep social networks up to date, and the negative belief that others are better and happier than oneself. The use of social media also contributes feelings of being overwhelmed due to the constant communication and alerts that individuals constantly receive (Vannucci, Flannery, &amp; Ohannessian, 2017). According to Vannucci, Flannery, and Ohannessian (2017), adults with high symptoms of anxiety and acute impairment are more likely to engage in social media use. Anxious individuals are also more likely to use social media as their main communication method to avoid in-person interactions (Vannucci, Flannery, &amp; Ohannessian, 2017). But what if we could use positive psychology to enhance traits such as kindness, creativity, the ability to work in teams, talents, and abilities to cultivate positive attitudes towards social media use?

Pioneer positive psychologist Martin Seligman and psychiatrist George E.Vaillant, examine positive psychology with the approach to building what’s already strong and reinforce patients in developing positive emotions, while using traditional psychotherapy as a supplement to treat existing negative emotions, such as sadness and anger (health.harvard.edu). Additionally, Carol Ryff identified a six-points model that consists of autonomy, personal growth, environmental mastery, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. She also created a valid and reliable self-report method to assess psychological well-being (Peterson, 2006, p.238). In practical terms, symptoms such as anxiety and panic attacks associated with the use of social media could be treated with a variation of cognitive-behavioral therapy that focuses on positive events. For example, the individual can keep a journal where they track and identify the positive events happening while using social media. Subsequently, they would begin recognizing the positive emotions while engaging in social media, with the main objective to challenge and associate negative ways of thinking, while reversing the focus from negative to positive (health.harvard.edu).

Researchers de Vries and Kühne (2015) took the time to investigate how much happiness in an individual is moderated by the indirect effects of social media and their use on one's self-perception. A study was conducted to explore further their hypothesis on whether there is a relationship between the use of Facebook and social comparison while adding if self- perception differs depending on the level of happiness in an individual's life.

Hypothesis

To help ease any anxiety in adult patients may have with social media, we will implement positive cognitive-behavioral therapy. The purpose of positive cognitive therapy is to help clients reach a favored change in behavior, help clients feel positive emotions, promote engagement in social settings, and maintain favorable relationships (Sugay, 2020). To help the client reach tranquil emotions when it comes to social media, we will focus on Bannick (2012) five interventions. These interventions will include acknowledgment of feelings, shift attention elsewhere, having clients focus on the future, challenge irrational beliefs, and the use of spirituality (Bannick, 2012). Using Bannicks (2012) theory, we will assign homework to the patient in the form of a journal to challenge their thoughts, set goals, and promote positive self-monitoring.

Intervention

Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) are solution-focused and not merely corrective. It is known that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has been present since the beginning of psychotherapy and is still widely used as an approach for treating those with psychological disorders. Positive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Positive CBT) is a modification of classical CBT that focused more on the promotion of well-being rather than symptom reduction. Using Positive CBT as an intervention will identify the client’s strengths and not just address the issues they are experiencing. The principle of Positive CBT is to make the individual feel better by aiding them in finding their power (Chowdhury, 2020). In our case, Positive CBT will be used to help adults with anxiety and panic due to social media usage. It is our hypothesis that the use of Positive CBT will help adults, who suffer from anxiety and panic due to social media usage, become more in tuned with themselves and learn how to look at their own thoughts, feelings and behavior and create a positive shift in their beliefs in order to change the way they experience life (Sugay, 2020).

For our intervention, we will use an approach conceived by Carol Ryff called the well-being therapy model, which is one of the most popular PPIs used today by psychologists. Well-being therapy model is multidimensional, comprised of six dimensions: environmental mastery, purpose in life, autonomy, self-acceptance, positive social connections, and personal growth (Eren & Kilic, 2017). In this approach, the individual’s well-being is the focus of the intervention, while concentrating on dealing with positive emotions over negative ones and boosting life satisfaction (Eren & Kilic, 2017).

For the first part of the intervention, we will ask our participants to measure well-being by participant’s self-evaluation using a journal where they will evaluate with a scale between 0-10, where 0 represents no well-being and 10 most well-being. By keeping a journal, this will allow the participants to accurately document the progress of their well-being throughout the entirety of the intervention.

Week 1

In the first week, participants will engage in a “What went well” activity. Throughout the day, they will write about three good things that happened in the day, no matter the subject or how big or small.

Week 2

In the second week, participants will create a “Signature strength log.” This activity is based on the Character Strengths and Virtues (CSV) handbook created by Seligman and Peterson (Peterson, 2006, p. 145). Participants will identify their strengths and how they are able to use them daily and record this information in the log.

Week 3

For the third week, participants will use self-love and meditation, in which they will be encouraged to focus on themselves and their emotions, and then they will use their journal to record their effect during this exercise. For example, they can decide to engage in pleasurable activities every day at the same time.

Week 4

Finally, in the fourth week, they will work on relationships. The goal of this activity is to promote well-being by nourishing relationships with others. They will use different steps throughout the week with the purpose of identifying a change in the quality of the participant’s interpersonal relationships. For example, they will show positive emotions to friends with the goal of receiving a similar positive reaction.

In order to carry out this intervention, researchers will reach out and select fifty adults at random. This random selection will be divided into two groups (one of 25 females and one 25 males). The participant's ages will range from 28 to 37, and verbal consent will be given out by them, prior to participation in the study. These participants, who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks as a side effect of social media use, will be taking part in a positive psychology intervention. The results expected from this positive cognitive behavioral therapy is that it will be beneficial for both the mind and the body.

In this intervention, Positive CBT will be implemented in the form of a four-week program. This program is based on the well-being model, first created by Carol Ryff (Bannick, 2012). The main objective of this intervention process is to help ease anxiety and panic attacks in adults that is caused by social media use. This intervention encourages its participants to focus on the positive aspects of their lives, using a series of cognitive-behavioral therapy strategies. Through these four weeks, the patients will first focus on positive events in their lives, so they can identify positive stimuli in their daily routine. Following this set of activities, patients are made to focus on their own strengths and self-love so that they have a foundation that is based on positivity. Finally, participants will focus on building relationships. This four-week intervention will use various cognitive-behavioral therapies to decrease the panic and anxiety that some adults experience as a side effect of social media. After this intervention, we predict that the strategies and skills included in this positive CBT will serve as a guide to participants to look into the same things with a different and positive perspective. The four-week program contains useful hacks that will serve as a guide to participants to monitor the quality of their interpersonal relationships. It is important to note that they will also be able to repeat this intervention as many times as they wish. Ultimately, our purpose is to convey that positive psychology is not a remedy for problems. The reason we chose positive CBT over traditional CBT is due to the type of thoughts and beliefs that positive CBT focuses on. Traditional CBT focuses on problem-solving, and usually, its target revolves around patient’s limitations and deficiencies. On the other hand, Positive CBT focuses on helping individuals elicit positive emotions, have meaningful routines in their personal, professional, and social life. Positive CBT highlights those elements that help boost the individual’s wellbeing and allows them to flourish. With this intervention, individuals might be capable of building their inner strength, be more aware of their capabilities, and help them see the positive around them (Sugay, 2020).

References

Bannink, F. P. (2012). Practicing positive CBT: From reducing distress to building success. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Caplan, S. E. (2006). Relations among loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic Internet use. CyberPsychology & behavior, 10(2), 234-242.

Chowdhury, M. R. (2020). 19 Best Positive Psychology Interventions+How To Apply Them. Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/positive-psychology-interventions/ (Links to an external site.)

Eren, H. K., & Kilic, N. (2017). Well-Being Therapy. MOJ Addiction Medicine & Therapy, 4(2). doi: 10.15406/mojamt.2017.04.00076

Festinger, L. (Ed.). (1980). Retrospections on social psychology (p. 297). New York: Oxford University Press.

Harvard Health Publishing. (2008, May). Positive psychology in practice. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/positive_psychology_in_practice (Links to an external site.)

Holland, K. (2018). Everything You Need to Know About Anxiety. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety#symptoms

Osterlind, D. (2017, February 24) Can positive psychology help you manage your anxiety and depression? Retrieved from https://novusmindfullife.com/positive-psychology-helps-anxiety-and-depression/ (Links to an external site.)

Patterson, D. (2016, September). Design for Happiness-Positive Psychology Through Social Media Games. In Joint International Conference on Serious Games (pp. 134-139). Springer, Cham.

Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in Positive Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Barrett, E. L., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., & James, A. E. (2017). Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and anxiety: A nationally-representative study among US young adults. Computers in human behavior, 69, 1-9.

Sugay, C. (2020). What is positive CBT? A look at positive cognitive behavioral therapy. Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/positive-cbt/ (Links to an external site.)

Vannucci, A., Flannery, K. M., & Ohannessian, C. M. (2017). Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults. Journal of Affective Disorders, 207, 163-166.

Weeks, J. W., Rodebaugh, T. L., Heimberg, R. G., Norton, P. J., & Jakatdar, T. A. (2009). “To avoid evaluation, withdraw”: Fears of evaluation and depressive cognitions lead to social anxiety and submissive withdrawal. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 33(4), 375-389.