ARTICLE SUMMARY-Internet Addiction

ARTICLE SUMMARY SU MMARY::- INTERNET ADDICTION: ADDICTIO N: SYMPTOMS, S YMPTOMS, EV E VALUATION ALUATION AND TREATMENT

This article tell us about internet addiction is a new mental health disease and the clinicians still unaware about it. Thus, this article is going to facilitate the clinicians to understand understand thoroughl thoroughly y about the internet internet addiction. addiction. The The arti articl clee will will first first focu focuss on the the complications of diagnosis of Internet addiction. Second, the negative consequences of such Internet abuse are explored. Third, how to properly assess and identify triggers causing the onset of pathologic pathological al Internet Internet use are discussed. Fourth, Fourth, a number number of recovery recovery strategies are  presented. Lastly, since Internet addiction is an emergent disorder, implications for future  practice are presented. COMPLICATIONS IN DIAGNOSING INTERNET ADDICTION

First and foremost, the concept of internet addiction was introduced by oung oung in !""# and this concept has triggered a great debate among the scholars especially the academicians and clinicians. $ne of the issues that has been debated among them was about the term %addictive& and %addiction&. Some of the scholars said that the term %addictive& can only be applied if there are physical substances being consumed in one's body. (owever, many  believed that the term %addiction& can only be applied if it is related to the consumption of  drugs. et, the term %addiction& has been used widely to describe a number of behaviours )e.g. gambling, overeating and playing games* that did not involve any consumption c onsumption of drugs. Thus, the term of %addiction& can be applied to describe any behaviour or condition and not only confined to the consumption of drugs. Furthermore, the complication to prove internet addiction arose when the internet itself gives a lot of benefits to the people. In fact, it facilitates facilitates and eases our daily activities. activities. For example, internet helps us to do research, to access any international libraries and etc. $n top of that, there are many boo+s that promote internet because it gives benefits to us. (ence, it is difficult to recognise one who is having internet addiction and it needs the s+illed clinicians to comprehend first the features of internet addiction to differentiate normal and internet addicts. roper diagnosis is hard to do when there are no specific features of internet addiction that listed in -iagnostic and Statistical anual of ental -isorders / Fourth 0dition )-S/ I1*. Therefore, oung has established eight questions based on the criteria of pathological

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gambling because they are quite similar to the pathological user Internet. The eight questions are2/ !. -o you feel preoccupied with the Internet )thin+ about previous on/line activity or  anticipate next on/line session*3 4. -o you feel the need to use the Internet with increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction3 5. (ave you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to control, cut bac+, or stop Internet use3 6. -o you feel restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or  stop Internet use3 7. -o you stay on/line longer than originally intended3 #. (ave you 8eopardi9ed or ris+ed the loss of significant relationship, 8ob, educational or  career opportunity because of the Internet3 :. (ave you lied to family members, therapist, or others to conceal the extent of  involvement with the Internet3 ;. -o you use the Internet as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a dysphoric mood )e.g., feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, depression*3 atient will be considered as %addicted& if he answered %yes& five times and onwards. From these questions the clinicians can differentiate between normal and pathological user Internet addiction. (owever, the author has highlighted that the propensity of patient's denial is high  because the need for him to carry out employment tas+s or academics purposes. Thus, even though the patient has fulfilled all eight features, he can easily cover with niversity of Texas at =ustin found that of the 75! valid responses, !6B met criteria for Internet addiction. =s a result, there are many programmes that being organi9ed to increase the awareness among students about the Internet addiction. O""$%a&io'al Problm!

The excessive usage of Internet was affected the employees. $ne survey from the nations top !,AAA companies revealed that fifty/five percent of executives believed that time surfing the Internet for non/business purposes is undermining their employees' effectiveness on the 8ob. In fact, by using the trac+ing devices, one firm has trac+ed all traffic going across its Internet connection and discovered that only twenty/three percent of the usage was  business related. These results have surprised all the managers due to the massive abuse of  Internet. (ence, the Internet has been the worst distraction by many employees.

ASSESSMENT OF PATHOLOGICAL INTERNET USE 3

 Cormally, the symptoms of Internet addiction were rarely prevailed when the clinical interview was being carried out. Therefore, the clinicians need to understand the features of  Internet addiction and asses the pathological Internet use. To properly assess the Internet  pathological use, the author believed that there are certain cues that ma+e the user to be addictive and the cues need to be traced bac+ through the assessment. In fact, there are four  types of cue that need to be assessed. A%%li"a&io'!

The first factor that might be influenced one to stay longer on the Internet is its application. $n the Internet, there are many applications such as chat rooms and games. In addition, the Internet addicts might obsessed with one of applications that available on the Internet and spend his excessive amount of time on it. Therefore, the clinicians need to identify which application that influenced the user and how many hours he spends on it. = deep assessment can be done with several questions li+e )a* ?hat are the applications you use on the Internet3 )b* (ow many hours per wee+ do you spend using each application3 )c* (ow would you ran+ order each application from best to least important3 and )d* ?hat do you li+e  best about each application3. Dy using these questions, the clinicians can eas ily determine the  pattern of applications of Internet addicts. Emo&io'!

The second factor that triggered the addictive use of the Internet is emotion. The Internet can be an instrument for one to escape from the real problem. It gives one a pleasant, security or calm feeling when he is online. (ence, one has the tendency to +eep coming bac+  to stay on the Internet. Therefore, the clinicians should as+