London, April 14 (IANS): Taking lots of selfies is not an addiction but a symptom of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), psychologists warn.

"Two out of three of all the patients who come to see me with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) since the rise of camera phones have a compulsion to repeatedly take and post selfies on social media sites,” explained David Veale, a consultant psychiatrist at The Priory Hospital, London.

In a first such study, experts have linked selfies with mental illness and have suggested that people regularly searching for the perfect angle from which to portray themselves could in some cases be ill.

“Taking selfies is not an addiction - it is a BDD symptom that involves checking one’s appearance,” Veale was quoted as saying in a Sunday Mirror report.

Selfie fans with BDD can spend hours trying to take pictures that do not show any defects or flaws in their appearance, which they are very aware of but which might be unnoticeable to others.

Often, people who take selfies take several photographs until they find their best angle or pose, but picking out small details can make people very self-conscious about the tiniest of ‘flaws', the report added.