Internet addictions: A real medical menace?

Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:20PM EDT

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Alcohol, drugs, food, sex, and even shopping are all candidates for medical treatment and are recognized as genuine mental disorders, so what about the Internet? Internet addiction -defined as "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations, and email/text messaging" - is becoming so common that at least one psychiatrist says it merits inclusion in psychiatry's official handbook of mental illness, the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."

Dr. Jerald Block of the Oregon Health and Science University is the latest voice pushing for this inclusion, noting that tech junkies display genuinely debilitating behavior, including drug-like cravings, withdrawal, and a constant need for more and better gear - just like a substance addict might exhibit.

But other doctors comment that Internet addiction, while it may be real, is too new of a condition and needs further study before being medically classified. There might be something to this: No one wants people being medicated or institutionalized if they aren't genuinely ill.

The "Manual of Mental Disorders" won't be published again until 2012, but an early draft will arrive for public comment in 2009. Meanwhile, mind docs say the problem is growing, now possibly affecting up to 10 percent of Internet users. Recent studies are surprising, indicating the problem is worst not among game-obsessed teens, but rather among middle-aged women who stay at home, constantly on the computer as a way of connecting to the outside world.

Is computer use (or computer downtime) causing a problem in your life? If so, you might be an addict. But you'll have to wait a few more years to find out for sure.

POLL: How many hours a day are you on the Net? 

Comments on Internet addictions: A real medical menace?

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  • 66 Posted by day2live_life on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am Amjed, Yes I'm addicted....When my internet disconnect i feel like heck uffffffffffff.

  • 67 Posted by mh_36 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:17PM EDT Report Abuse

    OOOOOO, Internet Addiction! Quick, let's develop some new drugs and medical specialties...more $$ for the doctor and the drug companies and more room for people to sit around calling themselves victims. I'll bet a lot more people are "addicted" to watching TV 15 hours a day than they are to the Internet, so where's the drug for that? This is just a ploy to make more money for the medical establishment.

  • 68 Posted by oliveoil4me2 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:44PM EDT Report Abuse

    My addictions Include but not limited to air, water, food. Cool, warmness,oil et. :(

  • 69 Posted by ara_igot on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    My name is Ara, I am 26 and I am an addict. So are we gonna form a support group now?lol

  • 71 Posted by pastelartiststudio on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:00PM EDT Report Abuse

    Is there ANYONE without something wrong! What are we supposed to be...robots !

  • 72 Posted by holy_sapen on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:20PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am Addicted I play World of warcraft and I cant pull myself away from my computer, and when the internet goes down I spend all my time trying to fix it so I can get back on the game when I get back in it feels so ahhhhhh relaxing my shoulders untense and I feel good.

  • 73 Posted by hryan4277 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is a real issue in my family's life. My sig. other works on the internet, has a very popular site in our industry. However...1. he also spends a majority of his downtime also on the net. 2. he copes and feels more comfortable talking with people via im or email than in person. 3. others in his life feel neglected, kids inluded, because of his net and puter addiction. He gets angry and defensive when you try to talk with him about it too. The kids stopped trying years ago admittedly and now after living with him and his addictions for two years I am seeing that he will not pull himself away and have more balance unless he sees the problem. He doesn't and I can't tell him. 4. it contributed to the demise of his first marriage. 5. He constantly has to purchase and upgrade equipment and have the biggest and newest gadgets...we have boxes and boxes of cords, and discarded equipement. He will event spend hundreds of dollars on items that he then decides he doesn;t like but then procrastinates and doesn't return to get the money back...the equipement just gathers dust and becomes a waste of money. and 6. his son became a huge gamer at a young age and had no boundries placed on him which subsequently he failed most of his elementary years. It was not until two years ago when I moved in and started implementing boundries that balance started taking place. his grades went up and he spends more time outside now. This is a real addiction. It can rob people of having stronger and healthier relationships including with themselves, distorts their involvement with the world around them and prevents them from having a more rounded and balanced life.

  • 74 Posted by dmlind on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thank God I have another excuse for my irresponsible choices: "The Internet made me do it!"

  • 75 Posted by rhlinn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    Nice short five paragraphs, rather than addictively long. Tried to e-mail it to a friend, the link failed, some sort of connection problem, I felt the walls closing in around me....

  • 76 Posted by cachetitos20002000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    My name is Layla.. I don't think that this is an addiction , I just think that there is people that has nothing to do, people that fell bored , or lonely people , people that just love to discover new things to increse their knowledge , those are the kind of people that now are called addicted to the internet. For example my self, I am not addicted to the internet , but when am at work and there is nothing going on or at home and am bored the best thing that I can do is loging and chat or discover new things or whatch a movie or shop online , I don't call it addiction ...

  • 77 Posted by mykutiepie on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:31PM EDT Report Abuse

    Yes I do agree this is addicting look at me now sitting here posting a comment ON THE INTERNET! There was a time when i think back and say i can believe i how bad this can get... like the time i discovered Myspace. My poor son was living off of oreos for breakfast and lunch for a while :

  • 78 Posted by tupmaniax on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:23PM EDT Report Abuse

    If you're a woman who needs some male company (mwm, 44, clean cut) in dealing with the problems of internet addiction, e-mail me at tupmaniax@yahoo.com. We can get through this together and hopefully develop an online friendship where we can share our desires and feelings.

  • 80 Posted by author_by_night on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think part of the problem is that especially for the 20-30 year olds, the internet is social. If I want to see what's up with one of my friends, it's usually easier to get them to reply to a Facebook private message than a call on their phones - even cellphones, where they're the only one getting the message, thus unable to use the "I didn't get your message" excuse. Another problem is that some people, like me, used the internet at a young age for social stuff when we didn't have a lot of other options. At school, I was the kid sitting alone in the cafeteria, wishing we were allowed to eat in the library, because the librarians were nice to me. Online, there was no cafeteria, and I gradually used that as my replacement - I felt like there, people were willing to give a ----- , even if they had boyfriends, cool friends, etc. I wasn't stupid enough to risk pedophiles in chatrooms, and some of my online friends have proven to be exactly who they say they were. (I say "some" because I'm careful about who I meet and even give my real town to.) Still, I think in some ways, it did me harm. I don't know how to go out and meet "normal" friends - although in fairness, I do try, but now everyone's logged on, so to speak. And I physically need the net, which is probably not healthy. So it's a mixed bag.

  • 81 Posted by author_by_night on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think part of the problem is that especially for the 20-30 year olds, the internet is social. If I want to see what's up with one of my friends, it's usually easier to get them to reply to a Facebook private message than a call on their phones - even cellphones, where they're the only one getting the message, thus unable to use the "I didn't get your message" excuse. Another problem is that some people, like me, used the internet at a young age for social stuff when we didn't have a lot of other options. At school, I was the kid sitting alone in the cafeteria, wishing we were allowed to eat in the library, because the librarians were nice to me. Online, there was no cafeteria, and I gradually used that as my replacement - I felt like there, people were willing to give a ----- , even if they had boyfriends, cool friends, etc. I wasn't stupid enough to risk pedophiles in chatrooms, and some of my online friends have proven to be exactly who they say they were. (I say "some" because I'm careful about who I meet and even give my real town to.) Still, I think in some ways, it did me harm. I don't know how to go out and meet "normal" friends - although in fairness, I do try, but now everyone's logged on, so to speak. And I physically need the net, which is probably not healthy. So it's a mixed bag.

  • 83 Posted by vixen2044 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:36PM EDT Report Abuse

    Looks like ignorance is ever present, when it comes to the last statement about who came first the shrink or the egg. What an uninformed comment. Anyone of us who has been married to a computer whiz, knows the chances of us being addicted to the computer. I went through a phase for a short time after being introduced to how easy it was to talk to whoever I wanted by just the stroke of a couple of keys. One thing about humans, the list is endless, as to what we can become addicted to. People who have a tendency to be addictive personalities, like alcholics, drug addicts, and so forth, all run the risk of being addicted. So if one has had to slay an addiction, then they might well be aware that they can become addicted to computers as well. But my idea of addiction when it comes to computers is a mind set that nothing else matters in your life EXCEPT the computer and internet at the cost of everything else. I've heard of people being on the computer so much that their marriages fail because of lack of communication. So my opinion is that we all can become victims of addition as long as we are human.

  • 84 Posted by srtn80 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    I agree with the person who posted "this means a new Mercedes for the doctor"!!!! It's not 1950/60 or 70's, it's 2008. We use our computers for just about everything, banking, staying in touch, sending photo's etc. Did they come out with "people who watch that stupid show sex and the city" are addicted, after all the clothing/shoe industry got a "fix" by what some of the cast members wore? This is "Psycho-babble" by this accredited doctor's findings....He didn't have something better to do with his time, something worth while to benefit someone who is really sick? Give me a friggen break! OMG, the pharmaceutical companies just came up with a pill for us computer users!!! It's called boring, stupid television shows!!! I hadn't typed since jr.high school....since I have my computer I can type fast and without looking at the keys. Oh gee, maybe we learn more stuff with hands on ability/access to information, instead of some old guy who we remember would put us to sleep in his classroom.....I've learned more on this then anything else I have been exposed to.....New addiction=new patients=$$$$.....just like the other person said!! Go find a cure for a real disease Doc! There are lots of kids at St. Jude's that may be ticked off you wasted their time studying us!!!!!!!!!!!

  • 85 Posted by mom_storm_mike@rogers.com on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:25PM EDT Report Abuse

    God this sounds so much like my boyfriend... I will admit im on the internet too and I am a stay at home mother of 3 but I deal with my kids and when they are playing quietly or are down for naps then I go on the computer and talk to friends but I dont miss it if the powers or other things have caused the internet not to work. But my boyfriend, he doesnt work, doesnt go to school and has the same 3 kids I have but I can never get him out of the basement and away from the computer, hes a major gamer and surfs the net all day long and finds the weirdest things... Maybe this is his problem

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