Ethics

Internet Addiction Disorder

     To be diagnosed as having Internet Addiction Disorder, a person must meet certain criteria as prescribed by the American Psychiatric Association. Three or more of these criteria must be present at any time during a twelve month period: 1. Tolerance: This refers to the need for increasing amounts of time on the Internet to achieve satisfaction and/or significantly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of time on the Internet. 2. Two or more withdrawal symptoms developing within days to one month after reduction of Internet use or cessation of Internet use (i.e., quitting cold turkey) , and these must cause distress or impair social, personal or occupational functioning. These include: psychomotor agitation, i.e. trembling, tremors; anxiety; obsessive thinking about what is happening on the Internet; fantasies or dreams about the Internet; voluntary or involuntary typing movements of the fingers. 3. Use of the Internet is engaged in to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms.

Psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg, MD is the doctor who coined the term Internet Addiction Disorder. Goldberg and Young offer some ways people who believe they are addicted, or may be heading toward addiction, can help themselves. First, Goldberg says, people must recognize patterns of overuse. An awareness of the basic symptoms is important. A key signal to this would be time spent at the computer, but also time spent thinking about the Internet or in activities related to the Internet. The next step, according to Young, is to identify underlying problems. Similar to other kinds of addicts, Internet addicts should ask themselves what is causing them to want to escape from everyday life? The third step is to devise and act out a plan to work through the problem, rather than escape it.