The new deadliest epidemic: i-addiction
Pyschiatrists say forget your Bird Flu and West Nile virus – the latest epidemic sweeping the world is an addiction to the internet, gaming and texting…and its here to stay. If you’ve started to become antsy or experience withdrawal when your iPhone dies and you’re without a charger, you might just be a victim.
According to the American Journal of Psychiatry, internet addiction (texting, online gaming, emailing, and sexual endeavors) should be added to the list of legitimate mental disorders.
Real addicts experience real issues – i-addicts are no exception. “Cravings, urges, withdrawal and tolerance, requiring more and better equipment and software, or more and more hours online,” are all typical of i-addicts, claims Oregon Health and Science University psychiatrist Dr. Jerald Block. I-addicts even tend to neglect normal human instincts like eating and sleeping; sound like any gamers you know?
Many users try to “escape” reality through their online obsessions; pot, crack, alchohol and other vices are other methods of escape.
I-addiction is usually typical of normal addictive personality types, claims Block; some 86% of i-addicts were found to have other mental illnesses of different sizes and flavors. However, usually a diagnosis of a different problem is necessary for a psychiatrist or psychologist to catch i-addiction.
Block argues that i-addiction (note: this term is my own – it isn’t a technical term) should be added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2012.
Doctors are trying to determine what the magic line for deeming someone an i-addict is; the generally agreed upon consensus is that a true addiction interferes with the addict’s day-to-day living.
If you know yourself to be an addiction-prone personality, consider seeing a therapist or psychiatrist; don’t become a tragic example of the terrible ends of i-addiction.
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March 18th, 2008
Im addicted. Our internet went down at home for nearly a month. I still used it 5 days a week at work but still i felt horribly edgy. I couldnt forget about it… this is just the begining.