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2012-01-13 09:26:42
By Helen Briggs Health editor, BBC News website
Web addicts have brain changes similar to those hooked on drugs or alcohol,
preliminary research suggests.
Experts in China scanned the brains of 17 young web addicts and found
disruption in the way their brains were wired up.
They say the discovery, published in Plos One, could lead to new treatments for
addictive behaviour.
Internet addiction is a clinical disorder marked by out-of-control internet
use.
A research team led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan
carried out brain scans of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21.
Seventeen of them were classed as having internet addiction disorder (IAD) on
the basis of answering yes to questions such as, "Have you repeatedly made
unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back or stop Internet use?"
Specialised MRI brain scans showed changes in the white matter of the brain -
the part that contains nerve fibres - in those classed as being web addicts,
compared with non-addicts.
Diagnostic criteria for internet addiction
Do you feel preoccupied with the internet?
Do you feel the need to use the internet with increasing amounts of time in
order to achieve satisfaction?
Have you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back or stop
internet use?
Do you feel restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut
down or stop internet use?
Do you stay online longer than intended?
Have you jeopardized or risked the loss of a significant relationship, job,
educational or career opportunity because of the internet?
Have you lied to family members, a therapist or others to conceal the extent of
involvement with the internet?
Do you use the internet as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a
distressed mood (eg feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety and depression)?
Participants answering yes to questions 1 to 5 and at least one more answer
were classed as suffering from Internet Addiction Disorder
Source: Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire for Internet Addiction adapted by
Beard and Wolf
There was evidence of disruption to connections in nerve fibres linking brain
areas involved in emotions, decision making, and self-control.
Dr Hao Lei and colleagues write in Plos One: "Overall, our findings indicate
that IAD has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involving
emotional generation and processing, executive attention, decision making and
cognitive control.
"The results also suggest that IAD may share psychological and neural
mechanisms with other types of substance addiction and impulse control
disorders."
Prof Gunter Schumann, chair in biological psychiatry at the Institute of
Psychiatry at King's College, London, said similar findings have been found in
video game addicts.
He told the BBC: "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."
Commenting on the Chinese study, Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, consultant
psychiatrist and honorary senior lecturer at Imperial College London, said the
research was "groundbreaking".
She added: "We are finally being told what clinicians suspected for some time
now, that white matter abnormalities in the orbito-frontal cortex and other
truly significant brain areas are present not only in addictions where
substances are involved but also in behavioural ones such as internet
addiction."
She said further studies with larger numbers of subjects were needed to confirm
the findings.