Have you ever wondered why your smartphone is so hard to put down or why you can’t resist reading that incoming text? Why do you suddenly feel vulnerable when you find yourself without your smartphone — a condition described with terms such as “nomophobia” or no-mobile-phone phobia?
Today’s modern technology addictions include being hooked on Internet surfing, obsessing over social media and being unable to put down the smartphone. At the heart of each of these is one addictive thing: information. If you struggle with spending too much time online, texting, updating your status or other modern tech diversions, you are probably […]
Although behavioral addictions have become increasingly accepted as genuine conditions—just like drug or alcohol addictions—in recent years, Internet addiction is still struggling to find widespread acceptance. Does the lack of recognition of the condition in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM-V, commonly called the “bible” of mental […]
Internet addiction is a commonly used term for an unofficially defined form of non-substance-based behavioral addiction that centers on a personally and socially damaging pattern of Internet use. A comorbid disorder is a condition that appears at the same time as one or more additional health problems and contributes to a disproportionate worsening of general […]
On November 21, two experts from Elements Behavioral Health – renowned physician and nutrition scientist Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, and sexual addiction clinician and tech/sex/relationship author Robert Weiss, LCSW, CSAT-S – will present clinical best practices at a symposium on technology and addiction sponsored by Pepperdine University in Malibu.
The right hand was a dead giveaway. When a 31-year-old man reached for his temple and tapped, he wasn’t just strumming his fingers in deep thought. He was going for his Google Glass. One problem. He wasn’t wearing the high-tech device.
Any psychiatric disorder is challenging enough, but there’s a single disorder that frequently makes the sufferer even more vulnerable to additional psychiatric problems. A new study from the McGill University Department of Psychiatry in Montreal, Canada, has found that people who have suffered from depression are more likely to develop an Internet addiction.
The idea of a behavioral addiction calls many people’s accepted definition of addiction into question. Addictions are not limited to substances, with gambling addiction, sex addiction and Internet addiction being examples of addictions to specific patterns of behavior. This may be puzzling at first, but the truth is that behavioral addictions are ultimately chemical in […]
Internet gaming disorder is the name of a proposed mental health condition designed to give mental health professionals the ability to diagnose a dysfunctional, addictive pattern of playing video games, especially games played over the Internet. Tentatively, it belongs to a group of disorders known as behavioral addictions or process addictions. The American Psychiatric Association […]
Addiction has long been limited to the abuse of chemical substances that leads to physical and emotional dependence. While still debated by some experts, many now agree that there are indisputable similarities between traditional substance addictions and what are called process addictions. These are addictions to any kind of activity or behavior, and do not […]
Behavioral addictions, also called process addictions, are often no taken seriously. Many professionals in the addiction community do not consider them to be proper addictions. These are things like compulsive eating, gambling addiction, Internet addiction and compulsive shopping. In other words, a behavioral addiction is anything that is not a chemical dependency—an addiction to drugs […]
If you spend much time on Facebook, you’ve probably seen the posters complaining about how children today are raised, proclaiming that, among other things, we used to play outside. The number of “likes” and comments on these nostalgic posts, reminiscing about the good old days and suggesting how much healthier the “old school” ways of […]
You may have seen the signs. Your child, once obsessed with Little League, SpongeBob and skateboarding, now seems to be squirreled away in his bedroom for hours at a time. He has developed a jailhouse pallor. On the rare occasions you see him, it’s just long enough for him to raid the fridge before scurrying […]
The technological trappings of the modern age may be opening up a door to a new type of addiction. The evidence is increasing that people are showing signs of addiction to the Internet, smart phones, and videogames, but it’s unclear whether it’s an addiction to technology itself or an underlying problem such as anxiety manifesting […]
As a parent, you’ve had a sneaking suspicion that you child’s heavy use of the Internet just can’t be healthy.
The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize addictions to new technologies such as the Internet or video games, because as their spokesperson put it, "The data is unreliable." However, two new studies, one from the University of Chicago and the other from Adelphi University in New York, presents some compelling new evidence that high-tech devices […]
Excessive use of the Internet is unhealthy for adolescents, even if they have never experienced psychological problems. A new study has found that addictive Internet use by teenagers can lead to depression and other behavioral problems, or can exacerbate preexisting conditions.
While some may wonder where their bad habits – such as the use or abuse of illegal drugs – began, recent studies are pointing to adult social networks. According to a recent Science Daily piece, behaviors that can include happiness, smoking and even drug use are influenced by friends and the friends of friends. Researchers […]
People who spend a great deal of time browsing the Internet are more likely to show depressive symptoms, according to the first large-scale study of its kind in the West by University of Leeds psychologists. The researchers found striking evidence that some users have developed a compulsive Internet habit, whereby they replace real-life social interaction […]
Nearly every individual has the potential to develop an addiction to something. Whether it is a substance that is illegal or unhealthy, an online game, a particular type of food or even a specific activity, developing an addiction is not something saved only for those with a tendency to move towards drugs or alcohol. Only […]
Adolescents with psychiatric symptoms such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), social phobia, hostility, and depression may be more likely to develop an Internet addiction, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Addiction to the Internet can negatively impact school performance, family relationships, and adolescents’ emotional states.
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