Discussion of Internet Addiction as Mental Illness Resurfaces 279
Lone Writer writes "The editorial section of the American Journal of Psychiatry for March offers the opinion that Internet addiction is a 'compulsive-impulsive' disorder, and should be added to the official guidebook of disorders. The editorial characterizes net addiction as including 'excessive gaming, [online] sexual pre-occupations and e-mail/text messaging'. From the article: 'Like other addicts, users experience cravings, urges, withdrawal and tolerance, requiring more and better equipment and software, or more and more hours online, according to Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Dr. Block says people can lose all track of time or neglect "basic drives," like eating or sleeping. Relapse rates are high, he writes, and some people may need psychoactive medications or hospitalization."
I do not agree... (Score:3, Insightful)
I can stop whenever I want (Score:5, Insightful)
Oooh, where does THAT link go?
When I was a kid, I want crazy over Transformers (1st gen). Before that, it was Hot Wheels. The Internet strikes me as one of these shiny new toys, but infinitely greater in its possibilities. But, compulsive-impulsive behavior? Why do I get the feeling that someone is looking for an excuse to live off my tax money? I am guilty for having shown addict-like behavior with it years ago. In college, if I wasn't in class, I was at a terminal run on the DEC VAX running TinyFugue and exploring every MUD and MOO out there.
There will be those who take the Internet to its extreme, sure. You will get that with any activity. But, 86% of addicts have some form mental illness? Me thinks "mental illness" has gained an overly-broad definition in the last 10 years. But, I am just an arm chair psychologist.
Gotta go, my email notify chime just went off.
Double-you tea eff?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Who the fuck has ever used the word "Heroinware?"
WarCrack/EverCrack, sure. I've heard those. But "heroinware"? That doesn't even roll off the tongue.
Someone used the word to describe Doom shareware back in 94, but it doesn't seem to have caught on (802 hits in google vs 460,000 for 'warcrack').
That's the equivalent of a
Fun stuff addiction? (Score:0, Insightful)
I need medication because I'm different (Score:4, Insightful)
Everyone must be exactly the same!
Some areas of medicine/psychology are getting ridiculous.
Re:In summary... (Score:-1, Insightful)
Instant cure for internet addiction then. (Score:5, Insightful)
So how much is too much? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What kind of drugs do they give out for this? (Score:3, Insightful)
Layne
Compulsive? (Score:2, Insightful)
And it's not the internet I'm addicted to. It is that gods-cursed Stumble Button.
Call me a cook if you want ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What kind of drugs do they give out for this? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sorry, but did you just say that in a multibillion dollar confidence scheme, you blame the hustled?
Re:I need medication because I'm different (Score:5, Insightful)
From a social health perspective, the social costs of addicts using the internet as their drug of choice are unknown. This topic along with most addiction research deserve way more research dollars. For example, we know our social costs went down when alcohol addiction was identified and promoted as an illness. (more workers, more productivity)
If you knew anything about addiction therapy you would know that the therapy for a sex addict is much different than that of a bulemic(sp!), which is much different then that of an alcoholic. It stands to reason then, that "internet addiction" will eventually have different therapeutic methods that are unique to this category of addiction.
Not all of us live in our parent's basement any more. Take a shower. Get a girlfriend.
Re:Maybe (Score:5, Insightful)
But, the thing is, I'm like that when I get hold of a good novel, too. I'll sometimes forget to eat for a day if I'm reading something great, and will even cancel social engagements if the book's really good. I don't think I'm alone in this.
So, do we also need a category of book addiction? Or do we just need to get a reality check, and accept that people in a relatively affluent society are lucky to have the luxury to give up on sleep or food for a little while in order to pursue an interest? After all, we know that we're not going to starve, so what does it matter if we miss a meal in order to iron out a persistent bug or follow a fascinating click-trail through Wikipedia? I think there are too many people out there who want us all to follow norms and have a vested interest in making us feel weird and wrong when we don't.
Re:I need medication because I'm different (Score:5, Insightful)
It isn't like doctors are going around to people's homes and declaring otherwise healthy people mentally ill. I'm sure this is mostly a reaction to people with serious problems looking for help.
Also, keep in mind that an official diagnosis is important for insurance purposes. "Internet addiction" may sound silly, but doctors need to put down some diagnosis or insurance may not pay.
The Sickness Industry at "work". (Score:4, Insightful)
It'a about time! (Score:2, Insightful)
Whew!
Re:In summary... (Score:4, Insightful)
Addiction to Internet pornography? No, it's addiction to pornography.
Addiction to Internet gaming? No, it's addiction to gaming.
Addiction to Internet gambling? No, it's addiction to gambling.
Addiction to Internet communication? That's a little tougher, but I'd view that more as low self esteem/insecurity - i.e. constantly needing to feel "connected". I'd bet these folks are the same ones used to who spend hours on the phone with their friends. Addiction? Hardly
This is psychiatrists trying to drum up more work for themselves.
I quite agree with that. (Score:4, Insightful)
Being that the door checking is an manifestation of OCD, not a disorder in and of itself. If you removed the door, the OCD will still be there. It will just transfer itself to something else. Such as checking the stove to make sure it is off.
Re:Call me a cook if you want ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Basically you're not consuming enough of the crap they want to shove down your throat. So they call it an addiction so they can give you drugs so you'll behave like a nice little drone, and watch their advertisements and buy their tooth whiteners.
I've watched more people wate more time on "an addiction" to collegiate sports, celebrity gossip, cricket, football, or just shopping than online anything. And yet these folks are considered normal for spending hours every night researching their fantasy sports teams (not just online, magazines, books, go to Amazon.com and look it up) and solid hours every weekend watching games. But that's normal. They're seeing their fair share of ads for Budweiser, so it's all good. But if you spend a few hours nights and weekends online playing games with friends, well, you're not seeing your share of advertisements, so that's obviously an addiction.
I'll take these jackasses seriously when I start hearing about American Idol addicts, TV addicts, and Golf addicts, or even (timely enough) College Basketball addicts. Until then, they're all basically bought by the advertising and marking cabal.
Re:Call me a cook if you want ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Now there's a wonderful irony of modern society.
Re:Call me a cook if you want ... (Score:4, Insightful)
The distinction is fairly simple, really: is there someone who objectively admits that watching college football is bad for them? That it hurts them? That they're starting to lose sleep or jeopardizing their employment over it?
And how many WOW players say just that?
That's the very meaning of "addiction": that there's something that you'd judge objectively to be bad for you but that you do not want to stop or curtail even though you judge it as bad for you. All those smokers who say "yeah, it kills you" and in the same breath claim "I can stop any time I want"? Addicted. Because they do not want to stop an activity that they themselves judge as bad for them.
Addiction does NOT mean "someone/something somehow forces me to do this". It means "I, myself, am continuing to choose to do this even though I, myself, understand this to be harmful for myself". Every addict is always in the drivers seat. They can always choose to stop whatever it is they're doing. For every addict it is true that "they can stop any time they want". But they don't want to. Which is exactly what addiction is all about.
Re:What if your job requires it? (Score:3, Insightful)
Still, I don't pretend that the DSM IV-tr is flawless or perfect. I'd have to be CRAZY to think that(look for it in the DSM-V
The entire "personality disorders" area is riddled with issues. You can have two people get the same diagnosis who share NONE of the same symptoms. This "pick 4 of 10" thing is convenient, but I question whether they're really describing the same disorder, or if that disorder exists. Most of the reason for the DSM is so that I can say "Suffers from PTSD" and you can quickly make a variety of inferences as to what symptoms the person shows, how to treat it, etc... That's lacking in a number of places in the DSM.
And yes, there are areas where the requirement for clinically significant distress or impairment is missing. That's why I qualified my earlier statemtents with "reluctant" etc...
Ah, no need to assume a conspiracy (Score:5, Insightful)
The way it works is sorta like this:
1. Most humans are herd animals, and educated to be very "us vs them" at it. And have layers upon layers of mental tricks to rationalize anything they personally do as the Right Thing. See, cognitive dissonance, for example.
So when Mr X goes to the pub and yakks about the latest football game, it not only gives him a much needed feeling of belonging to some group, it also provides a circle-jerk reinforcement of the idea that any sane male would naturally feel an urge to go to the pub and yakk about football. So if Mr Y wants to go play WoW instead, there must be something awfully wrong with him.
(And just so I don't piss off only the football fans, the same happens in reverse too. If John goes to the pub instead of doing the latest raid with us, there must be something awfully wrong with him. And if Tom is running OpenBSD instead of coming to our LUG meetings, and quotes Theo de Raad all the time instead of worshipping Linus like the rest of us, well, I'd be careful around him, if you know what I mean. Etc.)
At any rate, people can be very distrustful of anything that is not one of "us", and doubly so of anyone or anything that challenges the rationalizations and excuses that that "us" group is built on.
That incidentally means that anything new will invariably be met with such distrust. Society has had generations of building up a status quo, and lots of unwritten rules and roles for its members. Real Men do this, Real Women do that, Real Old Geezers do that other thing, and everyone is happy that they don't have to think much about it. Everyone else is doing the same things, so it must be the right, God-given way. And then this new group comes by and goes and reads comics instead, or watches TV, or listens to this newfangled heavy metal, or whatever.
I'm not kidding. Each of those has been the new thing at some point, and were demonized and presented as some dangerous influence on the youth at some point. Games are just the newest instance of some people who just don't want to fit their traditional roles in this big "us" group, and it makes everyone else uneasy. Why would they want to do that instead of watching the sacred football game on TV, like everyone else? How we forget that not so far in the past it was watching TV (instead of going and yakking outside) that was the newfangled TV addiction that was making everyone else uneasy.
So, anyway, we have a bunch of gamers and a large majority which doesn't understand them, and (to various extents) is made uneasy by them. They don't care that you don't watch ads or don't buy enough golf clubs, but they do get worried that you chose to not be a part of their group.
2. There's the kind of people who just want some publicity, or to sell you something. Whether it's a new drug, or their expensive psychotherapy fees, or the idea of electing them to Congress. Make no mistake, these don't care about what else you buy either. They just care about selling their own snake oil to enough people, and if you're not a buyer, well, then maybe you'd make a good bogeyman instead.
And that uneasy majority from #1 is a perfectly willing buyer for that snake oil. Especially one packed as, basically, "yes, it's scientifically proven: it's perfectly normal to be part of _your_ group and do the things _you_ do. And as you were suspecting, it's everyone else that are fucked-up in the head." That's what that majority wanted to hear.
3. It also doesn't help that we have a whole game industry trying hard to amplify the symptoms, if they can't actually make their games more "addictive".
We have limited save points. (My personal record was having to grind 10 hours before I found the next save point in a game.) We have 40-man raids that take a whole night to finish, and where if you quit suddenly, you've just piss
BREAKING NEWS: Watching television is a disorder (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:BREAKING NEWS: Watching television is a disorde (Score:3, Insightful)
I guess I've just haven't liked TV since they took all the cool reruns off of cable and replaced them with reality.
I've had far far far far FAR more "oh shit it's DAWN and I have to go to (class/work)" moments with wikipedia, WoW, forum arguments, Nethack, Civilization, etc. than I ever have with TV. The internet is basically a great big stack of awesome magazines. You can lose your attention but still immediately have something else to grab you. It works as both active and passive engagement. It's dangerous for people who are bad at saying "no."
And as for drugs? I don't know. Maybe a bunch of upright savanna apes are actually medically ill-equipped to live in this world we've built for ourselves, and only a small percentage of the population IS healthy by the standards we've created. We can either change our surroundings or drug ourselves into being OK with the surroundings we've built. Few people seem to be working very hard beyond mere complaining (guilty!) at the first option.
I don't know, though. I've struggled with very real been-in-the-hospital bipolar disorder with major depression and panic attacks. It's cost me jobs, education, and relationships. I resisted medication for a long time. While I don't doubt that psychoactives are way over perscribed (parents: hint: Adderol is meth. Don't be too shocked when your kids get hooked, and don't be too shocked at what happens when they lose their free pills at 22 or 23), my life is better since Lithium.