Use the internet more than most? You might be insane.

reply to post by zaiger


Crap I am definably insane! I knew it would happen one day. Look I go to school on-line and use it for work and everything else. What am I supposed to do? I still go out, I still clean my house, do my laundry, help my daughter with homework, take showers, cook meals. I thought I lived a pretty normal life now I am concerned, NOT...

Originally posted by andy1033
reply to post by MemoryShock

 

I am sure lots of us all over the net, would not speak to alot of others like this in real life.

Actually everything I write I also share with with real live people, well at least once. Gives me a lot of time to waste on the internet.

Hello fellow crazy people! At least I'm in good company.
If being crazy means I am more educated, more aware, more sociable and more open minded, well, I would rather be crazy than not.

If you can recognize there is a problem and take action to rectify the problem, there is no problem.

The addiction only comes into play if it is impacting your life in a negative way, ie, income, sleep, life, relationships, and if you can't recognize it, and need others to tell you about it or can't stop the behavior.

Originally posted by zaiger
Any gammer knows that in Korea they are all still playing starcraft like it is the newest coolest game around and THAT is a the problem not how much time they spend playing it lol.

For that comment alone, I'm giving you a star. That made my night!

Originally posted by zaiger

They are currently using lexapro to treat it

This was the nugget I was looking for....

Yep, that's the point of all such "studies".
Are people really buying into this BS anymore...?





[edit on 1-11-2009 by Ethereal Gargoyle]

reply to post by Ethereal Gargoyle


Yes people are still buyig into this crap. I think mental illness is the only branch of "medicine" that uses drug companies to market their drugs AND the illness. You ever hear a Viccodin comercial? Have you ever heard an advil comercial list a very long vauge list of symptoms to tell you at the end "you may be suffering from pain, ask your doctor how advil can help you".

How come their is a disorder for excessive internet use, but not excessive television watching?

reply to post by Kram09


Because the Drug companies spend big bucks advertising the Mental illness and their drug on your television.

Just think for a moment. How many treatment options for AIDS do you know of off the top of your head? Now how many anti-depressants can you name?

[edit on 3-11-2009 by zaiger]

Originally posted by zaiger
reply to post by Kram09

 

Because the Drug companies spend big bucks advertising the Mental illness and their drug on your television.

Just think for a moment. How many treatment options for AIDS do you know of off the top of your head? Now how many anti-depressants can you name?

[edit on 3-11-2009 by zaiger]

I think your judgement is clouded by your distrust of pharmecutical companies and the like.

Depression is a very real illness. True there are many ways to deal with depression other than medication, but because medication exists for it does not make it any less of a real condition.

How many people do you know or heard of has had their family ripped apart or have otherwise caused trauma in their lives due to watching too much TV? I'm not going to say it has never happened because it surely has. But the amount of people who's lives have suffered because of an addiction to computers, gambling, drugs, or because of depression is pretty substantial.

Just because you spend alot of time on the internet/pc does not automatically mean you have a problem. But when that becomes the top thing in your life, and begins to have a deleterious effect on your life it becomes a problem.

Like I said in earlier posts, I have that problem. And I know others with similar issues and it goes way beyond just posting alot on forums or watching too much youtube.

It is a serious problem, and it was definately not something "created" by drug companies.

The only time I can see taking drugs worthwhile is if you have a chemical imbalance that a certain drug corrects. Taking antidepressants to "make you feel better" doesn't qualify, nor does taking a drug to combat a computer/internet addiction.

reply to post by ThaLoccster


That is a straw man argument. Depression is a real thing, if my mother died or i lost my legs i would be depressed, it is normal. The issue was an internet disorder.
What you said about me not trusting drug companies is true. There is a deffinite trend between what illness the drug companies advertise and what people are diagnosed with. The whole theory of a seratonin balance causing mental illness was put together by Eli Lilly to market prozac. from 1987 to 97, the ammount of people treated for depression more than trippled. The percentage of people medicated for depression doubled.
In 1985 they sold about $240 million, today they sell about $12 billion in anti-depressants. But to date there is no scientific evidence of
1 a correct serotonin balance
2 a serotonin imbalance
Ironically a side effect of anti-depressants is depression.

reply to post by zaiger


You seemed to have missed my whole point.

Everyone does get depressed, they probably also spend time on the internet, watching tv, gambling and taking drugs.

If your mother died or you lost your legs it would surely be normal to be depressed. But when that depression hinders your life it becomes a problem. When you stop working, eating, bathing, interacting with others, getting out of bed etc... it becomes more than just "normal". But not necessarily something you need medication for.

I agree with you in principle (I think) about over medication and medicating every problem we seem to have.

Like I said before, and I'll explain again since you seemed to have missed it. Theres nothing "abnormal" about being depressed, or using the computer to much or gambling or any other thing thats associated as a "problem" or an "addiction". But when those activites become deleterious to your life it is infact a problem and definately not normal.

When your wife leaves you because you spend too much time on the computer, when you neglect your children, when you lose sleep, eat less, shut yourself away from the world in favor of sitting at the pc it is definately not normal and a problem you should see help (not medication) for.

I don't see this as being a "straw man" argument (I actually had no idea what the term meant, after you said that I looked it up). You're the one who introduced depression into the conversation, my reply was in response to that.

My comment about chemical imbalance was not in regards to depression, but other disorders. I have no idea of any studies or arguments that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance.

My whole post was based on the idea that you are saying that "its all normal". And to an extent it is all normal, but like i said in this post and others there is a degree, and when you exceed that degree it stops being normal and that is when you need help.

Most people that use medications for depression, gambling, and now apparently computer addiction are in my opinion looking for the quick fix and not wanting to do anything to achieve the results they contend they desire. So they see this quick fix, a drug, and say well that'll help me. Why do any work to feel better, when this medication can make me feel better. When often times it doesn't.

reply to post by zaiger
















Oh....man....

I am so W A Y insane, it no wonder I am a super mod around here....


Is there any known cure, I don't recall any thing, about a cure?

reply to post by ThaLoccster


Thanks for clarifying that for me and i see what you are saying. But chemical imbalances are said to be the reason for depression although no proof of an imbalance or a correct balance exists

Zoloft is a prescription medicine that treats depression and anxiety. It belongs to a class of drugs known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). Zoloft works to correct a chemical imbalance in the brain that may be related to symptoms of depression or anxiety. It has been prescribed to millions of people for more than 15 years.
- from www.zoloft.com...

reply to post by ADVISOR

Is there any known cure, I don't recall any thing, about a cure?

There is no cure for any mental illness only treatment$ and medication$.

reply to post by zaiger


I might be insane???? WHAT?? I'm reasonably certain I was unwell long before the internet.

reply to post by Morbo the Annihilator

And the TV is mindless. On the internet, you do actually have to read. At least a little. Lord knows here on ATS, we all read ALL DAY LONG.

Spot on. Plus, most of us practice our typing skills, and hopefully tweak our grammar and spelling, usage and writing skills a tad in the process of being chronic board posters.

I'm clearly within the realm of the OP's type 2. I remember about this time last year, when Hurricane Paloma hit us and we were without conventional power (we have solar backup) and internet for 4 months. My Bride was happy not knowing what was going on out in the big, bad world -- no news was good news. Me, I was going bonkers, driving myself and everyone else crazy, imagining stuff worse than was actually happening. Thank God m'Bride has a blackberry. QUERTY type bites, but at least there's that off-island connection.

reply to post by zaiger


I thought it was funny that immediately after reading this post, I opened my homepage and this was what I saw.

Processed foods linked to depression

Sorry for the off topicness. Just thought it was coincidentally funny.

reply to post by zaiger


You're misinterpreting the intent and the purpose of the DSM. All of the categories in the DSM are not forms of insanity.

Almost any activity that impairs one's social or intrapsychic functioning can be considered a pathological condition. It really depends on the extent of the problem.

You might spend 18 hours a day on the computer to support your family and you may do so while interacting normally with family and friends, though one's sleep might suffer.

However, if use of the internet substitutes for normal social and other goal-directed activity, then the same number of hours might constitute a problem that needs to be addressed.

Here's the key:

Conceptually, the diagnosis is a compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder....

ajp.psychiatryonline.org...

The issue is not that computer use is pathological, but that the use of anything can become pathological and that there may be underlying problems that manifest as overuse of the computer or anything else.

It is easy to make fun of something when it is not fully understood. The DSM has never been a perfect document, thus it has undergone several revisions.

Internet addiction is simply being suggested for further study in the link you cite. Actually, use of the internet to any extent does not meet strict criteria for a true addiction. Addiction is a misused term.

However, the author does note as I've quoted above that the disorder would be a compulsive/impulsive disorder, several of which already exist in the DSM.

When patients or their families confront mental health workers with behavior that is problematic and needs intervention, mental health workers need a name for that problem to assist in treatment and also for billing insurance companies.

So, no one needs to be worried about being committed for using the internet too much. If one did find himself committed as a result of too much internet use, the committal would be more likely to result from the problems both social and intrapsychic that might emerge from too little normal, face-to-face interaction with the outside world.



[edit on 2009/11/3 by GradyPhilpott]

Listen to the mainstream media more than most, you might be insane!

reply to post by GradyPhilpott

The DSM has never been a perfect document, thus is has undergone several revisions.

Oh so true. The DSM is not based on any science whatsoever and is for that reason not perfect. The revisions it has gone through have just been adding new "disorders".
A medical text book is filled with real illnesses what they are and how they are treated. The DSM is filled with disorders that are made up and voted by a show of hands to be put into the book, just like Homosexuality was voted out of the DSM. There is no illness in a medeical textbook that can be voted in or out, the condition is real or it is not real end of story.
The Drug companies team up with psychiatrists to hand out a diagnosis and a medication for it. A Dr. Joseph L. Biederman was paid $1.6 million dollars to give lectures for drug companies and in his own practice he was the doctor responsible for diagnosing and medicating children as young as two for bi-polar disorder. There is no objective tests for any of the mental illnesses listed in the DSM, so the DSM is a collection of litterally made up illnesses with the porfitable ones being marketed by drug companies to the public. At the end of all the comercials "ask your doctor if ________ is right for you"

[edit on 3-11-2009 by zaiger]