Internet addiction changes brain similar to cocaine: Study
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(CBS) Can a person be truly addicted to the Internet?
A new brain scan study shows not only can that be the case, but also that Internet addiction might cause the same brain changes that are seen in alcoholics and drug addicts.
For the study, published in the Jan. 11 issue of PLoS One, researchers studied 17 men and women who were diagnosed with Internet addiction disorder (IAD) and compared scans of their brains to scans of 16 healthy people who weren't addicted to the web. Study participants were between the ages of 14 and 21 and lived in China.
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The researchers found more patterns of "abnormal white matter" on brain scans of Internet addicts, compared with scans of non-addicts. White matter areas in the brain contain nerve fibers that transmit signals to other parts of the brain.
These changes showed evidence of disrupting pathways related to emotions, decision-making, and self control.
The researchers said earlier studies have found similar white matter changes in the brain scans of people addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, meth, and ketamine (also known as "Special K").
"The results also suggest that IAD may share psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of substance addiction and impulse control disorders," the researchers wrote in the study.
Professor Gunter Schumann, chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College, London, told BBC News that he's come across similar findings in brain scans of video game addicts.
"For the first time two studies show changes in the neuronal connections between brain areas as well as changes in brain function in people who are frequently using the Internet or video games," he said.
Dr. Henrietta Bowden Jones, consultant psychiatrist at Imperial College in London, who runs the U.K.'s only clinic for Internet addicts, said hardcore gamers are more likely to be addicted to the Internet.
"The majority of people we see with serious Internet addiction are gamers - people who spend long hours in roles in various games that cause them to disregard their obligations," Jones told The Independent. "I have seen people who stopped attending university lectures, failed their degrees or their marriages broke down because they were unable to emotionally connect with anything outside the game."
According to the independent, an estimated 5 to 10 percent of Internet users are unable to control their usage and are considered addicts.
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http://www.controllingaddiction.net/articles/internet-addiction
I'm not going to do anything stupid like sue my college just because I have a disorder. I'm going to work on my disorder and go back to the university and kick it's ass. But I am treating my problem like a problem - something that needs to be fixed.
It's genetic. Yeah, that's it. It's genetic. People that are addicted to the internet have no control over it. They are born addicted to the internet and have no control over it at all.
So now all we need is some doctor somewhere to write a paper saying that and publishing it. He will have to come up with some neat little anachronism to call it too, like GIDS - Genetically Induced Distraction Syndrome.
Boom! Then the lawyers can roll up their sleeves because it's payday baby! They can start writing laws forcing everyone to acknowledge that people can't help it if they have GIDS. Society will have to pay for it. Anyone calling them lazy will be derided as behind the times and not educated on the latest "thing".
Who said we dont have jobs and we find time to enjoy ourselves. We are not workaholics at least.
It's genetic. Yeah, that's it. It's genetic. People that are addicted to the internet have no control over it. They are born addicted to the internet and have no control over it at all.
Most people have this thing going on called life and a job that takes up their time.
P.S.: MMORPGs (such as World of Warcraft) combine both addictions together, which is why they are notoriously addicting and life-wasting. I'm too afraid to try any myself.