Derrik Horman Nathan Cole Report Paper October 16, 2013 Are Mental Disorders Caused by Internet Addiction

or Vice Versa?

Horman 1

Subject A is a 32 year old male working his way through his 4th year of college. In his past he has had psychiatric evaluations showing he has a bipolar disorder, depression, which is in remission, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), along with a history of paraphilia (intense sexual arousal). He started using the Internet as a teenager playing multiplayer online strategy games. Subject A would play long enough that his Internet use was starting to affect his grades. He recognizes that his Internet use, during college, had contributed to academic problems due to excessive amounts of time spent in chat rooms. Unfortunately, he has not been able to decrease the amount of time online to improve his academic difficulties. Before he logs in he experiences a rising sense of tension or anticipation and a release of these feelings after logging in. If Subject A becomes stressed he will use the Internet to overcome this problem and discover he has been online much longer than anticipated. This example of an Internet user who has multiple psychological disorders brings to mind the question: Do preexisting mental disorders promote Internet addiction or does Internet addiction enhance psychological maladies? Mental disorders often associated with Internet addiction include, depression, stress, bipolar disorder, and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Depression is exhibited by a mental state of altered mood characterized by feelings of sadness, despair, and discouragement (thefreedictionary.com). Stress is an individual's reaction to the changing environment of pressures and demands one may live in. Bipolar disorder is an example of an emotional high-low roller coaster type of condition. A person can go from feeling relatively normal to an exalted state of an emotional high, feeling as if he/she can conquer everything, to an emotional low where the person will completely withdraw from society inside their own mind. According to psychologydictionary.org, OCD is an

Horman 2 anxiety disorder marked by repetitive obsessions, compulsions, or both which are time consuming, inflict substantial distress, or impede the person's performance. The obsessions and compulsions are considered to be extreme or unacceptable. Do these disorders contribute to a person being addicted to the Internet or does the Internet enhance preexisting problems? When an individual is online he/she has complete anonymity from the entire world giving a sense of security. The individual can express themselves as the opposite of who they are in the real world. This type of behavior will give the user the sense of self-worth he/she is not receiving from family, friends or co-workers. A great example of this type of mentality is expressed by the song Cooler Online by Brad Paisley. The chorus of the song says, 'cause online I'm out in Hollywood I'm 6'5 and I look damn good I drive a Maserati I'm a black belt in Karate And I love a good glass of wine It turns girls on that I'm mysterious I tell 'em I don't want nothing serious 'cause even on a slow day I can have a three way Chat with two women at one time I'm so much cooler online So much cooler online (azlyrics.com). The remainder of the song describes how the person has never had a girlfriend, still lives at home with mom and dad, works a dead-end job, has some minor health problems and seldom ever travels outside of his own community. But when he is online he exaggerates himself into being exactly what he, in reality, is not. This song is an example of why a person with, Axis 1, or mood disorders (Larry Rosen, PhD, 5) with such a low self esteem, and depression would excessively use the Internet as an escape from the mentally harsh world he lives in. A study was done among a population of 250 college students across the universities in Isfahan, Iran. The study was conducted in 2011 and the conditions were the students had to be using the

Horman 3 Internet at least once a week for the last 6 months at their home, school, library, coffee net, or any other relative place (Alavi, et.al.). The purpose of the study was to discover if a relationship between Internet addiction and psychiatric disorders does exist. Table 1 shows the demographics of the population studied:

(Alavi et al) Table 2 shows the relationship of Internet addiction associated with the students who have been diagnosed with psychological disorders.

(Alavi et al)

Horman 4 The researches of this study discovered that many of the subjects tested had multiple co morbid psychological problems. Freedictionary.com states, Co morbid- pertaining to a disease or other pathological process that occurs simultaneously with another. Table 2 shows that many of the students have been diagnosed with OCD, depression, phobias, and somatization (a person complaining of being sick when there is no physical evidence of illness). This study is showing that Internet addiction promotes various psychological problems such as phobias and paranoia being the largest. Other research, according to Alavi et al, has discovered that Internet addicts have a history of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. The use of the Internet is not the only form of electronic addiction attainable to the public. Email, chat-rooms, texting and Facebook are all examples of other forms of addictions that can promote psychological disorders. Recent research has discovered a new development among preteens and teenagers called Facebook depression (Rosen, 76). This occurs when an individual spends excessive amounts of time viewing friends and others on Facebook and then starts comparing their own lives to the ones they are observing. The person can see extravagant vacations, large parties and expensive gifts and comes to the realization that these possibilities are not in their own future. This discovery aids in the mental collapse of depression. Steve, (not his real name) is a 19 year-old college student. He lives in a dorm with two other students and his school is 500 miles from the town he grew up in. Steve is constantly texting, in one month he had sent and received 6,359 texts (Rosen, 82). In a 30 day month that totals up to be at least 212 texts per day. His texting conversations are not the usual brief updates of life in his hometown, they can extend late into the night with long chats from his girlfriend who is a senior at his high school. He also spends copious amounts of time texting with his best friend who attends a community college near his home. Steve has been attending college for five weeks and he is behind in all four of his courses and

has done no homework in two classes. He can't seem to get out of bed in the morning and he is feeling Horman 5 like everyday is a burden (Rosen, 82) . He has a complete lack of motivation to attend his classes and to do the homework, along with the difficulties of concentrating in class and focusing on the lectures presented to him. Steve is an example of how depression can be brought on by his excessive use of an electronic device. There is no method to determine if the act of continuous texting is the cause of depression, but according to Dr. Rosen, it seems that he retreats into electronic communications as a way of keeping in close contact with his friends back at home. (82) When he is text messaging his best friend Steve complains about how terrible life is. Steve and his girlfriend constantly argue through IM (instant messaging) or texting and she wants him to see a psychologist. From Steve's point-of-view his life is rather grim. Alavi et al discusses at the end of their study how the research impact of excessive Internet use on a person with mental disorders is undecided. In short, the mental health of an Internet addict is at more risk than a person who uses the Internet on a casual basis. The theory of Internet use causing mental disorders or psychological maladies promoting Internet abuse has not been established. Many more long term studies and research must be done before a diagnosis or treatment is available. However, the professionals who work in the mental health field need, to be aware of mental problems caused by Internet addiction such as anxiety, depression, aggression, job and educational dissatisfaction. They should also be aware of this growing phenomenon and the role that psychology can take in addressing Internet use and abuse (Alavi et al).

Works Cited Alavi, Seyyed Salman, Mohammad Reza Maracy, Fereshte Jannatifard, and Mehdi Eslami. "The effect of psychiatric symptoms on the internet addiction disorder in Isfahan." Journal of Research in Medical Sciences. 16(6). (2011): 793-800. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <www.ncbi.nih.gov/pmc/aritcles/PMC3214398>. azlyrics. Lyrics A-Z Universe, 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013 pyschologydictionary. American Psychology Association, 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013 Rosen, PhD, Larry. iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession With Technology and Overcoming Its Hold On Us. 1st. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print. thefreedictionary. Farlex, 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013