Facebook may actually be making you crazy, according to a new study.

The study, led by Dr. Uri Nitzan of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Shalvata Mental Health Care Center, found a direct link between psychotic episodes and a patient's Internet or Facebook communications.

The paper describes an in-depth look into three patients, all of whom were feeling "loneliness or vulnerability due to the loss of or separation from a loved one," reported the Daily Mail.

All three patients sought refuge from real-life loneliness by entering intense virtual relationships. The relationships provided initial satisfaction, but those feelings soon gave way to feelings of hurt, betrayal, and invasion of privacy.

"In each case, a connection was found between the gradual development and exacerbation of psychotic symptoms, including delusions, anxiety, confusion, and intensified use of computer communications," said Dr. Nitzan.

The more patients socialized online, the worse it got.

"Two patients began to feel vulnerable as a result of sharing private information, and one even experienced tactile hallucinations, believing that the person beyond the screen was physically touching her," said Dr. Nitzan.

Prior to the study, none of the patients had a history of psychosis or drug abuse.

"As internet access becomes increasingly widespread, so do related psychopathologies. Computer communications such as Facebook and chat groups are an important part of this story."

"Some of the problematic features of the internet relate to issues of geographical and spatial distortion, the absence of nonverbal cues, and the tendency to idealize the person with whom someone is communicating, becoming intimate without ever meeting face-to-face," added Dr. Nitzan.

The paper was published in the Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences.