Compulsive e-mailing, texting could be classified as bona fide illness
By Darren Murph 
posted March 17th 2008 8:11PM
posted March 17th 2008 8:11PM
Considering the plethora of facilities that have opened just in the past few years to deal solely with individuals that have become undoubtedly addicted to video games, the internet and all things Hello Kitty (we jest, we jest), we're not surprised one iota to hear that uncontrollably texting / e-mailing could soon become "classified as an official brain illness." According to a writeup in the latest American Journal of Psychiatry, internet addiction is a common ailment "that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders." More specifically, Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, even goes so far as to argue that said phenomenon (neglecting basic drives to spend more time online) be "included in the [next edition of] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses." Until then, we wish you the best of luck convincing that creature living in your basement with a dedicated T1 line that he / she isn't alright.[Via textually]
Nice choice of album cover! Love the stuff Andrew Hill did for Blue Note.
Back to the regularly scheduled obsessive behavior...
Is psychiatrists have their way I am sure this kinda junk will make it in to the DSM V. Texting is no more an illness than drinking water from the tap is.
What about compulsive Stargate fanfiction writing?
Pretty soon we'll have anything we like seen as a disorder by doctors, who are willing to give us a hand and put another one in our pocket...
i think the problem with texting is we lose human contact. using abbreviations and also the lost of actually exchanging words over the phone is making people more closed minded and not easily approachable to talk to.
There's an illness for everything, including those who want to empty your wallet by creating, labelling and disseminating illnesses for you to let you know you have.
At least that's what my paranoia tells me.
Oh wait, my paranoia is an illne...
The voices in my head see no problem here.
add "Compulsive RSS reading and comment replying syndrome" to the list.
what about post-whoring on offtopic?
This is what the actual editorial written by Jerald J. Block M.D., from the American Journal of Psychology states:
"Internet addiction appears to be a common disorder that merits inclusion in DSM-V.
Conceptually, the diagnosis is a compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder that involves
online and/or offline computer usage (1, 2) and consists of at least three subtypes: excessive
gaming, sexual preoccupations, and e-mail/text messaging (3). All of the variants
share the following four components: 1) excessive use, often associated with a loss
of sense of time or a neglect of basic drives, 2) withdrawal, including feelings of anger,
tension, and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible, 3) tolerance, including
the need for better computer equipment, more software, or more hours of use, and 4)
negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation,
and fatigue (3, 4).
Some of the most interesting research on Internet
addiction has been published in South Korea..."
Issues for DSM-V: Internet Addiction. Am J Psychiatry 165:3, March 2008
Editorial
ajp.psychiatryonline.org
For further information I suggest reading the entire article before jumping to conclusions about insufficient justification of their pending classification.
Suffering from an addiction. This website has a lot of great resources and treatment centers.
______________________
http://www.treatmentcenters.org