Well if it’s good enough for sex, chocolate and World of Warcraft, then it is good enough for texting and emailing (just ask Blackberry owners) so reports Ottawa Citizen.
According to an editorial in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Internet addiction or compulsive e-mail/text messaging (among other things) is a common enough compulsive-impulsive disorder to warrant a place in psychiatry’s official guidebook of mental disorders.
Apparently text and email addiction have all the classic hallmarks; cravings, urges, withdrawal an increased desire for better equipment and software, or more and more hours online. Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, claims that sufferers can lose track of time and neglect “basic drives,” such as eating or sleeping. Worse still, relapses are common among sufferers and in some cases psychoactive medications or hospitalization are necessary.
He argues that the phenomenon warrants being included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry’s official dictionary of mental illnesses. The next edition is due out in 2012 so it will be a while before we know if text and email addiction make the cut. It seems likely though, we can think of several people we could have sectioned if this comes to pass.
(Via textually)
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