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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Blogging Madness

Filed under: Psychiatry

Dr Block, a psychiatrist, seems to believe that the editors of this blog, along with a good number of its readers, are suffering from a mental disorder. He contends that obsessive internet surfers suffer from similar symptoms that drug addicts do.

The following is a carefully crafted assault on all of us, published in the latest Am J Psychiatry. Good thing we have the internet to read this on:

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 and consists of at least three subtypes: excessive gaming, sexual preoccupations, and e-mail/text messaging. 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.

Issues for DSM-V: Internet Addiction Am J Psychiatry 165:306-307, March 2008

More at the Ottawa Citizen...

email this article to a friend      print this!           comments and peer reviews (7)




replies: 7 comments
Open comments are not moderated, although abusive and vulgar remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Medgadget.com. Please consult our disclaimer.

I have to admit I did not read the actual journal article, but how old is Dr. Block? Although iIcan see that some people may take internet usage a bit too far, I think that anything can become an addiction. My concen is that classifying this as a DSM diagnosis will just put more people on psychotic drugs. We all know medicine fixes everything. Can you imagine someone being admitted with a diagnosis of Blogger Addiction, or text messagitis, or blackberry overuseatitis?

Much like the over diagnosis of ADHD, now all CEO's, Bloggers, IT staff, kids born after 1982, Blackberry owners, I-Phone users, and google users are all addicts and need to be treated. In a country with too much medical waste as it is, a diagnosis of an evolving society and communication pattern seems a bit ridiculous.

I wonder if Dr. Block is going to protest the electronic version of his article!


Posted by: Dan Weberg
on March 19, 2008 10:38 AM GMT

Dan,

It does seem somehow that Dr. Block would have done more good by decreasing the amount of material to be addicted to online. Instead he's created another meme, and here we are finding ourselves having to process more data.


Posted by: Bruder
on March 19, 2008 12:10 PM GMT

Hello, my name is Dr. Val Jones, and I'm an Internet addict. ;)

Hi Dan and Bruder - welcome to the club?

Hilarious about Dr. Block contributing to the problem by putting his article online. :)


Posted by: Dr. Val
on March 19, 2008 01:14 PM GMT

Don’t forget the closely related Analytics-Compulsive-Disorder (ACD) a psychiatric anxiety disorder commonly characterized by a subject’s obsessive, distressing or intrusive thoughts relating to blog analytics defined by repetitive behaviors including commenting and repeatedly reloading unique visitor data that are time consuming (more than 1 hour per day) and cause impairment in social functioning. These behaviours and mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing distress related to lack of blog interest.
DCM IV-WEB (2000)

Hi my name is Ian and I have a problem.
www.waittimes.blogspot.com


Posted by: Ian Furst
on March 19, 2008 03:10 PM GMT

Ian:

When you are alone, what do you abuse: Sitemeter or Statcounter?


Posted by: DrO
on March 19, 2008 03:19 PM GMT

Diary Entry March 14, 2007
Went on a Disney cruise this week and was unable to access my Google Analytics. I'm feeling very proud of myself for not thinking about the blog for part of each day. Then a GPS map of the world came up on the jumbotron with our ships position and I suddenly found myself anxious and sweating wondering whether I was receiving any hits from the western Carribbean... and this is what I do at night :-)
www.waittimes.blogspot.com


Posted by: Ian Furst
on March 19, 2008 04:09 PM GMT

Love it... This is such a funny commentary. I too find myself checking google analytics as I am a new healthcare 2.0 blogger and pray for more hits everyday. If I dream about being a multi-thousandaire readership blog do I need Xanex? Please help me Dr. Block!

My name is Dan, and I am a Google-holic with a touch of Blackberry-itis.

great posts!


Posted by: Dan Weberg
on March 19, 2008 05:07 PM GMT

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