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SALT LAKE CITY -- Cocaine can damage your brain, body and cause serious problems in someone's life. Alcohol and many other intoxicants can do the same thing. But can the Internet cause similar problems? A preliminary study suggests that there is a possibility it can.
A study from China of 17 adolescents with Internet addiction showed significant "abnormalities" in areas of the brain associated with emotional processing and decision-making. Areas of decreased "white matter integrity" were found in parts of the brain traditionally associated with addictions, like the orbitofrontal cortex, the area immediately behind the eyes, and the area that connects the two halves of the brain, known as the corpus callosum.
In short, is suggests that your brain responds to Internet addiction much like a drug.
It sounds like the Internet can turn your brain to mush. Fortunately, that's not quite what's happening, but the news is troubling and may provide new evidence for a disease whose existence is under dispute.
Though the study is small, the authors say that it provides evidence of the real physical consequences of Internet overuse, and may give early indications for treatment options.
"Recent studies have shown that physical or pharmacological treatments may improve white matter integrity," the authors state.
Internet addiction is a fairly new and loose name for a set of symptoms that include using the Internet for many hours at a time, to the point where it interferes with normal life. There is currently some debate as to whether it should be included in the upcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders, the DSM-V. It is currently not included in the DSM-IV, the definitive list of mental disorders.
Proponents claim that the disorder is real, but some opponents say that Internet overuse is a symptom of other underlying psychological disorders like depression, anxiety or gambling addiction. An addiction to gambling may mean hours on the Web, but the real problem isn't necessarily the medium in which the issue manifests itself.
It isn't surprising that the study comes out of China. Internet addiction has been a widely-accepted but still controversial issue in the country, where hundreds of private clinics exist to treat the disorder. The government has also warned against Internet overuse on occasion.
Regardless of the debate, the authors admit that more studies need to be done and that the results ought to be taken with a grain of salt, so to speak. It was small and diagnosis with Internet addiction was based on self reporting. It is also not clear whether the internet overuse is the cause of the reduced brain integrity, or whether reduced integrity predisposed the subjects to Internet addiction before users ever logged on.
