MD says Net addiction really is a mental illness
Just like it's taken us a while to reckon with the fact that texting or yakking on the phone while driving can be seriously unsafe, it is taking a while to figure out what to make of our sometimes heedless obsession with all things online.
At least one psychiatrist says that, for some of us, online fixation can be serious a problem--a compulsive-impulsive disorder whose sufferers endure gadget cravings, broadband-deprivation withdrawal, increasing tolerance for spending extraordinary amounts of time online, and no apparent embarrassment when they wake up in the morning with a keyboard imprint on their face.
An article in The Ottawa Citizen cites an editorial on the subject in the March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry by Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University.
Another set of symptoms typically accompanying online addiction, Block writes, includes argumentative behavior, lying, social isolation, and fatigue. He also notes that Internet addiction typically accompanies other types of mental illness, argues that it should be included in psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses, and points out that it already is considered a serious public health issue in South Korea and China.
Look around you. You probably see at least a few people in need of Net-addiction therapy. Assuming you're not holed up at home, staring for hours at your computer screen.
The APA classifying internet addiction as it's own disorder I think would be a mistake because then the true underlying disorder may never be treated.
That may sound perverted in some form, but it is true. People like myself prefer to "stay under the radar" and not be bothered by anyone. I don't own a cellphone. I may not check my email for days. I can even take trips and not worry about whether or not the hotel has on-line access. That's basically what I mean by enjoying ourselves - the ability to stay out-of-touch and still keep ourselves occupied.
Most people I see nowadays have a compulsive need to communicate. I don't understand how someone can leave the house, drive out of their driveway and immediately start talking on the cellphone. The opposite also exists... People wonder why I didn't read the email they sent me just a few hours earlier.
I don't think it is an addiction or a mental illness. The 21st century has changed the lifestyle of the human being. Humans need to be in constant contact - not because they're mentally ill but because technology and society allows them to do so. That's the way today's youth were brought up from birth. In a way, it is a form of evolution.
But I do find the cycle upsetting. I don't feel comfortable with the idea that humans can no longer exist without technology. I still like to believe that if somehow "Escape from LA" happened in real life, we could actually survive. But no, I don't think so. I think people in the TV show "Jericho" would be jumping off buildings.
I rarely use a cell phone and use the internet only because my financial interests dictate I must.
Although communications technology has a valuable role to play, it has also removed much of our privacy, and added extra stresses that can contribute to health problems and relationship failures.
And once again, sadly, I find myself talking from personal experience.
Marcus Gardner
www.orchardplaceworkshop.co.uk
However the truth is that many people who suffer with mental health issues use computers as an escape and coping mechanism.
I feel I should point out that the length of time spent on the computer, can be used as an indicator of mental health deterioration.
Should anyone wish to argue the point, I would just like to say that I am speaking from personal experience and not just juggling statistics to prove myself right.
Marcus Gardner
http://www.orchardplaceworkshop.co.uk
Addiction treatment and recovery resources for the addict and their families. http://www.addictiontreatment.net
- by TravisKnight July 4, 2008 7:55 PM PDT
- We are all as different as finger prints, yet all have many of the same human traits in common, as we were all created in the image of our Creator. It appeared to me many years ago after opening a social model alcohol and other drug treatment center, that all people have a need to be loved, heard and understood.
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(8 Comments)Even with a vast array of personalities on this planet, most of us never seem to have our needs met. Therefore, we begin to engage behaviors, good, bad or indifferent hoping to fulfill our unmet needs.
Not wishing to get into the dogma of religion here, as I am not a religious person, in fact ofter 25 years of in dept study of the Hebrew Bible and attending a non-denominational organized religion thought-out this same time, I have concluded that religion was not created to set men free, but rather to enslave him.
With that said, I am however a person of great faith in a supreme authority, the very One who is the source of my being, whom I choose to call God. However, after much study I have concluded that there are many events in human history that the "church" or control matrix does not wish for its subjects to realize.
If these truths were realized, the "church" fears it would lose its hold.
For hundreds of years the "church" has maintained that the stories discovered in text out side of the Bible cannon are fables, fairy tales and/or vivid imagination, yet if we look closely at the original books that made up the original Bible cannon, most of the healing and understanding books were removed by the Counsel of Nicaea in 324 AD.
It appears to me this was a political maneuver, rather than ignorance, as the books that were removed, were the books that told the stories of how man had been disconnected from the source of his being, and how to restore his connection to the Divine Matrix, the very connection to the source of his being.
What is rather ironic for me is that the very creation god who claims to have separated, severed humanity from the conscious connection to the Divine Matrix, that I refer to as the holy spirit, was the creation god Zeus.
When we closely examine the name Zeus, we discover this Greek name was translated to the Roman empires Latin, the language that is only used by the Vatican, translating the name Zeus into Jesus or pronounced "Hey Zeus."
If this does not send up a red flag for you, then I am sure you still believe building 7 just fell into itself without any outside influence, nor was demolished to cover up materials that would have indited many money scammers.
My conclusion in regards to addiction; We are all a lost peoples, some just more so than others. Some use the Internet and other medias trying to reconnect to that which was lost in the Garden of our Eden. Most appear to use these various avenues trying to reconnect with other humans, not realizing that once we are reconnected to the Divine Matrix, we will again become as a oneness with others and our Creator.
With this said, there are those like me who have replaced our addiction to alcohol and other drugs, with an addiction to knowledge and sharing that which we have learned on line from others, and that which we have learned from our own research.
You probably would not wish to have dinner with me, as I am addicted to knowledge and will share it with you whether you wish to hear it or not. ^_^
Yes, I am an Internet junkie, and my name is Travis, and after leaving you a link to my website, I need to check my emails at my various social networks.
If you so desire, I have written many articles regarding addiction, mental health, views of origin and destination and about my out-side-of-the-box unique view of Christianity, with a vast amount of research information links and even tons of videos for those who grow weary from reading my many words.
I am not sure how this particular blog software works, as there should only be one kind that everyone understands, but here are two forms of links, hoping one will work.
I hope that you will honor me with your visit to my labor of love;
http//www.focusonrecovery.net
Traditional Family Resources