--- title: Is Too Much Tanning a Mental Illness? description: People with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are more likely to be dependent on tanning canonical: https://time.com/8852/is-tanning-too-much-a-mental-illness/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-20T19:35:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:27:01.867Z article:section: Health og:title: Is Too Much Tanning a Mental Illness? og:description: People with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are more likely to be dependent on tanning og:url: https://time.com/8852/is-tanning-too-much-a-mental-illness/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89e0b309b51347af/698682f0f983e7274604c780/tanning-mental-illness.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1400 og:image:height: 788 og:image:alt: People with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are more likely to be dependent on tanning og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is Too Much Tanning a Mental Illness? twitter:description: People with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are more likely to be dependent on tanning twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89e0b309b51347af/698682f0f983e7274604c780/tanning-mental-illness.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Is Too Much Tanning a Mental Illness? > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=50505609-f509-4989-aeb5-e32fae300ad2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Feb 20, 2014 7:35 PM UTC  Poolside glamour Poolside glamour John Lamb—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Feb 20, 2014 7:35 PM UTC You know the type. They have dark brown skin in the middle of February and take constant trips to the tanning salon. It’s the tanning addict. We may joke about Snooki’s bad habits, but [new research](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140219102230.htm) published in the _Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology_ suggests that people who tan excessively also experience some mental health symptoms that should be taken seriously, like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and body dysmorphic disorders (BDD). The researchers surveyed 533 tanning students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and determined which ones exhibited behaviors dependent on tanning. Participants who responded “yes” to a minimum of three out of eight criteria points in the Tanning-DSM–a modified guide from the substance abuse criteria in the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–were classified as tanning dependent. Participants who answered yes to two out of four questions on a tanning version of a CAGE alcohol screener–which tests for alcoholism–were classified as exhibiting problematic tanning. Researchers discovered that women who screened positive for BDD and OCD were at a greater risk for being tanning dependent. The participants who reported tanning at a minimum of nine times in the last 30 days were at the greatest risk of being dependent on it. But calling a behavior “addicting” is serious business, and psychiatry is not quick to do so. “We have tanning addiction in the title, but we don’t jump to the conclusion automatically that tanning is and can be an addiction,” writes study author Lisham Ashrafioun. “We’re saying that we shouldn’t necessarily rule this out especially if people are tanning excessively, even if they aren’t experiencing any OCD or body dysmorphic disorder.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/8852/is-tanning-too-much-a-mental-illness/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/8852/is-tanning-too-much-a-mental-illness/"},"headline":"Is Too Much Tanning a Mental Illness?","datePublished":"2014-02-20T19:35:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:27:01.867Z","description":"People with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are more likely to be dependent on tanning","url":"https://time.com/8852/is-tanning-too-much-a-mental-illness/","keywords":["Mental Health","Tanning"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89e0b309b51347af/698682f0f983e7274604c780/tanning-mental-illness.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89e0b309b51347af/698682f0f983e7274604c780/tanning-mental-illness.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"People with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are more likely to be dependent on tanning","caption":"People with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are more likely to be dependent on tanning","creditText":"John Lamb—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-health/","name":"Mental Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/8852/is-tanning-too-much-a-mental-illness/","name":"Is Too Much Tanning a Mental Illness?"}}]}] ```