Talking Therapies: Dating apps – Finding love in the 21st century

The rise of dating apps has changed the world of dating, but is it for better or for worse?

UKCP psychotherapist Denise Dunne sat down with Sarah Niblock, CEO of the UKCP, to find out how dating apps are affecting our mental health.

‘For as long as we’ve had a command of technology we’ve tried to use it in a way to make finding a match a easier, less painful, disappointing experience with less rejection.’

With the emergence of new phenomena such as ghosting, defined by Google as ‘the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication,’ how effective is this new approach to dating?

In her feature for Psychologies Magazine our CEO Professor Sarah Niblock writes: ‘Visual profiles embed a sense of competition and tempt us to upload an idealised representation of ourselves, rather than share our authentic values and interests.’

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