Some Psychiatrists Addicted To Prescribing Internet Addiction
from the must-be-good-for-business dept
Over the past few years, we've seen so many "calls" to label the use of certain technologies as "addictions" that we've noticed something of a... well... addiction by some to call for new technology addictions. Among the long, long list of possible addictions has been email addiction, web addiction, online porn addiction, video game addiction, internet addiction, and mobile phones or other gadget addictions. Almost every time, the call for addiction comes from a psychologist or psychiatrist trying to build up a reputation for treating such "addictions." It must be good for business (and perhaps a lot less harrowing than treating some other types of addictions).So it shouldn't come as any surprise to see a psychiatrist now calling for internet addiction to become an officially classified addiction in the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (basically the official rulebook for such things). Of course, there are a few problems, including the fact that research has shown little evidence that the internet is really addictive, and almost every story of internet addiction really tends to be about deeper issues that resulted in someone seeking an outlet on the internet (from depression, bad family situations, alcoholism, etc.). Focusing on the "internet" part tends to have people trying to treat a symptom, not the disease. Hopefully, this new push will follow the same path as the one last year to have video games declared an addiction too. It didn't take long for that idea to get shot down.
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Filed Under: addiction, internet addiction, psychiatrists
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Re: Oh, crap!
There are countless diseases and disorders out there who's symptoms overlap with the symptoms of others. Half of the disorders out there now are really just vitamin deficiencies or the result of some other problem with a persons diet.
For example, I've been developing a case of insomnia. At first I thought about sleep pills but after some research I found out that low amounts of melatonin can cause insomnia. Should I treat the symptom or the problem? Most doctors want you to treat the symptom. That way they can prescribe you a powerful sleep med that also requires refills... and thus return visits. They make a lot less money off of telling you to get out of your damned house and get some sun.
The real scary part is that most of these doctors don't even know they are doing this. Many honestly would never make the connection between too much time spent indoors and loss of sleep. Those that do would very likely convince themselves sleep aids are a more reliable "solution." They have been trained throughout med school by their teachers, their peers, and the doctors they interned with to think this way, and they think nothing of it. The doctors, teachers, and peers that taught them to think this way didn't realize they were teaching anything out of the norm ether. It's no conspiracy. It's just Americans being Americans... sheep being sheep.
I've been diagnosed with acid reflux disease twice now. Both times the doctors drew their diagnosis from completely different symptoms and both conflicted with each other. Both gave me different meds both of which they needed to see me every month to write a new prescription for and both of which had to be taken for life. Both meds had side effects I didn't care for and both didn't help the problems I actually went to the doctors for help with. Did some research and guess what? Turns out I had been eating a lot of food with garlic in it without realizing, too much in fact. Changed my diet and both symptoms disappeared.
Two doctors, independent of each other, misdiagnosing me in favor of the latest big disorder, for conflicting reasons, unwilling to agree with me that the meds weren't helping, and both unaware of a much simpler, less expensive, and more permanent solution I found on the internet.
Yes, doctors are diagnosing people in such a way that benefits them financially.
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