Experts warn selfie addictions can turn deadly

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- We've all taken selfies for fun, but some experts are now seeing more and more teens getting addicted to snapping selfies -- and in some cases, it could turn deadly.

From the Oscars to the Vatican and even recently from the surface of Mars, the selfie craze isn't going anywhere.

This year, "The Selfie Song" topped the Billboard charts.

It's changed the way we present our world to the world.

Celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus have set the bar, and ninth-grader Elliott Cook tries more than 50 times a day to reach it. He's hoping to snap that perfect selfie, sometimes obsessing about it.

"It's not the picture itself," Cook said. "It's the way I might look in it and the way that I come out."

He says he deletes most of them because he doesn't like parts of his face. The ones he posts on Instagram -- in full makeup -- have gotten hundreds of likes.

Cook said, "I only got 10 likes in the last five minutes. Do you think I should take it down? Let me take another selfie."

Psychotherapist Angelina Rodriguez says it's about validation.

"It can be a hit for you, or you can get a little high from it," she said. "And that's when you can start to notice that it can be an addiction."

And it can lead to body dysmorphic disorder, an anxiety disorder about personal appearance.

"The darkness of this disorder is when it becomes the point where you're isolated, you don't go out. And ultimately can lead to suicide," Rodriguez said.

British teen Danny Bowman made international headlines after he tried to kill himself -- diagnosed with BDB, frustrated that he couldn't take the perfect selfie.

"This is basically where parents come in," Rodriguez said. "Parents come in and have to start noticing my child is doing this behavior."

Cook says he doesn't have a selfie problem. But he says others have taken the phenomena to the next level.

Are you addicted to taking selfies? Take Angelina's selfie quiz to find out!