Internet Addiction Could Be Classified As Mental Illness
Put down your laptop and listen up: The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that compulsive e-mailing and text messaging could soon become classified as an official brain illness.
This month's issue of American Journal of Psychiatry says Internet addiction -- which includes "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations and e-mail/text messaging" -- is a common compulsive-impulsive disorder, and that it should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders.
From Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, says people can lose all track of time or neglect "basic drives" (read: eating, sleeping, and the like). He says that relapse rates are high, and that some people may actually need psychoactive medications or hospitalization.
So look at yourself in the glow of your reflective monitor and ask, "Do I need help?"
And then promptly continue reading Switched.com and its affiliated Web sites. Thank you.
From Engadget
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
jenn @ Mar 18th 2008 11:11AM
GUILTY!!!
mkemp @ Mar 18th 2008 11:16AM
Sadly, life itself is a terrible disease for which there is no cure. I've relapsed many times on it. Like alcoholism, drug addiction and computer addiction, however, there IS a solution. All we need to do is stay away from any people, places and things associated with life.
lk @ Mar 18th 2008 11:18AM
They want to classify everything these days as an illness.
Jake Luba @ Mar 18th 2008 11:33AM
I dont think it should be classified as a mental illness
Sam @ Mar 18th 2008 11:52AM
He's from Oregon!!! What else is
there to do but text and email people who don't live in Oregon?
Brett @ Mar 18th 2008 11:53AM
I definitely have an internet addiction and when booking a hotel ALWAYS have to know if there is wifi.
I have used this addiction as a way to make save money and make some as well.
I have started promoting an online shopping mall and it is great
supplemental income and I have been saving between 5-55% on my
purchases at over 1100 stores online including Bare
Necessities, Sephora, Apple, The Gap, Target (great for soo much),
Macy's. I also wait for sales so I get my cash back and the lowest
price
http://www.dailyoink.com The site is ugly, but well worth it.
Sheera @ Mar 18th 2008 11:56AM
YES!! I am going through a divorce and one of the reasons was a little game called Worlds of WarCraft.
calibear @ Mar 18th 2008 11:57AM
I agree with IK they do want everything to become a illness and i think it is stupid and dumb to say internet u useing it a lot should be classifiled as a mental illness i dont think so stupid . Take ppk at work for examle they infron of the computer all day long and on the net does that make them have a mental illness no. stupid i hape it does not go through as a mentel illness it be dumb and stupid .
calibear
George @ Mar 18th 2008 11:59AM
textin and e mailing is just anothe form of communication with out the high cost of long distance for lots of people
rich @ Mar 18th 2008 12:01PM
And twenty years ago it was TV addiction. And 50 years ago it was Radio addiction. And 150 years ago it was sitting in the saloon. And then it was watching the massacres in the lions den in Rome. Gimme a break. Did you ever think about this. We have more Psychiatrists, psychotheRAPISTS and so forth than ever before. And, we seem to have more nuts walking the streets than ever before. What does that tell you? Mental health begins at home and seems to be damaged greatly by reading articles such as these and others. Nuff said.
Pell Blue @ Mar 18th 2008 12:07PM
HELP!!
jjride267 @ Mar 18th 2008 12:29PM
Give me a break!!! No matter what we do lately, someone has to put a label on it. We can't breathe without someone looking over our shoulder these days!!!
Rder2007 @ Mar 18th 2008 12:31PM
Nuts!
bobyo @ Mar 18th 2008 12:32PM
The more they can get classified as an illness the more they can charge the insurance carriers. What a scam!
Bozzy @ Mar 18th 2008 12:38PM
LOL...LIFE ITSELF IS AN ADDICTION CURED BY DEATH.....it begins at birth and you have choices for all the inbetweens...with a bit of luck , the better ones outnumber the bad and hopefully the more evil ones that do abound and take up precious time !!!
sandra weisz @ Mar 18th 2008 12:38PM
i am horibly addicted to the net. and i am homeless, living in motels. i can't get off my space, craigslist, the news, certain music, looking up long lost people. it's keeping me sick, scared, and i never found anything on craigslist for where to live. it is not a subsitute for real life. it is making my life worse , not better, and people forget how to be human. they become zombie robots. its a giant whore machine anyway .it makes people gain weight too.
inyocountycaman @ Mar 18th 2008 12:41PM
Playing the mental illness card is not all that unusual by members of the Culture of Narcissism. With the corporate gifts readily available to the political psychiatrists, if they say the "right" words, extirpation of Aryan Pride is quite vogue (it's really been going on for 4000 years).
Com'n, do it again, quacks. You'll see real mental illness in action.
Mike Joseph @ Mar 18th 2008 12:43PM
Wow. Another example of how everything is an "illness", huh? How pathetic can this country get?!?
jordan @ Mar 18th 2008 12:45PM
give me a break. so basically we need to sit alone in a room by ourselves with no material objects? that sounds like a disorder too... or maybe labeling disorders is a disorder? either way lets put the guy who txts/emails/internet surfs on some "downer" so we can numb him to the world. yeah thats the solution then we can waste money and fall into debt paying psychiatrists money to diagnose us with these disorders and then pay for the prescriptions
Kansas Tripp @ Mar 18th 2008 12:49PM
This will give the Internet predators a way to stay out of jail.
Now they will be able to say " I couldn't help, I got a metal illness"...I truly believe those predators are sick in the head but know more then a murderer.
All the people that set in chats room 24/7 while their families need are put on hold, will be able to received disability from the federal government (SSI) and the ones who truly are in need of SSI will be the ones who will have to pay the price of an already over stress system.
"Forgive my typos and I will forgive yours"