Impact of online dating on the adolescent population: a brief review of the literature with special reference to the Indian scenario.

BACKGROUND: Online dating is becoming more and more popular not only among the adult population, but also among adolescents, which comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Adolescents are more vulnerable to a number of issues connected with online dating, including online grooming, bullying, emotional abuse, revenge porn, harassment, and lack of social interaction. AIM: We aimed to briefly review the available literature exploring the impact of online dating on adolescents, with special reference to the current Indian Scenario. METHODS: A brief literature search was conducted in PubMed and Google Scholar in September 2022 with no date limits. Keywords included various combinations of terms such as online dating, dating applications, social media, mental illness, psychiatric disorders, adolescents, and mental health. Original studies and review articles exploring the impact of online dating on adolescents and published in English were reviewed in our work. A descriptive strategy was used to summarise the findings. RESULTS: The impact of online dating on adolescents is discussed in the light of (1) issues associated with online dating among adolescents, (2) the international context, and (3) Indian context. CONCLUSION: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, online dating has grown in popularity among adolescents, which has led to a number of worrying situations, including increased risk of sexually transmitted infections, dating violence, and mental health issues. All of these issues are described in the literature in the context of unsupervised use of technology, peer pressure, and desire to fit into the society. Data from India remain scarce on this topic, highlighting the need for research exploring the influence of online dating on adolescents.

Management of obsessive-compulsive disorder with virtual reality-based exposure.

Little information is available about use of virtual reality exposure for management of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). We present a patient with OCD, who presented with significant dysfunction related to his OC symptoms and was managed with virtual reality based exposure therapy. A 27-year-old male, presented with a history suggestive of OCD for last 8 years. His symptoms were characterized by obsessive images of known people, leading to significant anxiety and distress. To get rid of his anxiety and distress, he would repeat the acts at hand, multiple times till these images would subside or till he would be able to replace these images by desirable images. These symptoms led to marked socio-occupational dysfunction. The treatment history was suggestive of minimal response to adequate trials of multiple selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and he was on capsule fluoxetine 80 mg/day at the time of presentation. Exposure and Response therapy was tried in the past by using imaginal exposure, but this was unsuccessful, as the patient would avoid imagining the anxiety-provoking images. Hence, he was exposed to the anxiety provoking images by using virtual reality which involved presenting him with videos containing pictures of known and unknown people arranged randomly, along with the anxiety-provoking images. Over a period of 2 months, 60 sessions of ERP were carried out and the whole hierarchy was completed. This case demonstrates that virtual reality can be used in behaviour therapy for OCD, by using virtual reality techniques, and there is a need to develop software and programs for assessment and management of OCD.

Change in prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with bipolar disorder.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the change in prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) over a long duration of follow up and to evaluate the factors associated with MetS in patients with BD. METHODOLOGY: 59 patients with BD, for whom details of the previous assessment of MetS were available, were evaluated for MetS at follow-up. MetS was diagnosed as per the consensus criteria. RESULTS: At the baseline, 54.2% (N = 32) of patients fulfilled the criteria for MetS, and after the mean follow-up duration of 62.1 (SD-55.3) months, the prevalence of MetS increased to 66.1% (N = 39). Raised waist circumference was the most common abnormality at both the assessments. At baseline, the second most common abnormality was abnormal triglyceride levels, and this was followed by low high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, raised fasting blood glucose levels and abnormal blood pressure. Whereas, at follow-up assessment, the second most common abnormality was raised fasting blood glucose levels and it was followed by raised blood pressure level, followed by, abnormal triglyceride levels, and this was followed by low HDL levels. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that over a mean period of about 5 years, there is increase in the prevalence of MetS among patients with BD. Accordingly, there is a need to periodically monitor the metabolic parameter of patients with BD and interventions must be started for the same at the earliest.