Rational Recovery Center - The Internet Center for Self-Recovery

Computer Addiction: Horrible New Scourge

By J. L. George “Cyber-Doc” Shearing-Dom-Laryngeston, Ph.D.

(As confided to Rational Recovery Founder, Jack Trimpey)

©1996, Jack Trimpey, all rights reserved. Reprinted from The Journal of Rational Recovery.

Computer Addiction Paralyzes Nation

The first computer-related call we received at the Center for Behavioral Addictive Disease Control (C-BAD) was in the spring of 1995. This call came from the mother of a college student who reported that her son had become “addicted to his computer.” This was patient zero, the beginning of something ominous.

I asked the mother to describe her son's overdeveloped attachment to his computer. She explained that her intelligent, dynamic, 24 year-old son, had fallen behind in his studies at the university to the point that he had been placed on academic probation. He had also isolated himself from others, preferring the company of his computer to his girlfriend. Similarities between this call and calls regarding the more common addictive diseases were obvious. We had a real live one on our hands, and we knew we must act decisively before it spread through motherboards, modems and wires, infecting the entire nation and - who knows - maybe the Universe.

The next call on computer addiction came from a husband who discovered his wife was spending an inordinate amount of time behind closed doors in their home office. He looked through the skylight and found her connected to a worldwide computer network program, rocking slowly to and fro, coming to orgasm. He explained that for some time he felt as if he were in competition for his wife s love, time and attention, and she seemed attracted instead to their home computer. He described his feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem based on his inability to compete with this “machine.” By the time this man reached out for help, this suburban couple was struggling to save their marriage. He was desperate, and she was in denial.

Upon later evaluation in therapy, it was revealed that his wife had numerous “computer relationships” with other men throughout the world. Moreover, investigators found boxes of Harlequin Romances in the attic, along with True Romance magazines. In her counseling, she was able to admit and accept her problem and her inability to set healthy boundaries for herself with regard to her literary interests and computer use. This was the beginning of her path to recovery.

Pandora's Box
At this time, it is unknown just how the new computer technology affects the neurotransmitters of users with addictive personalities, but there are many legitimate clinical concerns. Our primary areas of concern are sexual compulsivity, cyber-sex, gambling on the computer highway, avoidance disorders, time-use allocation, financial problems generated by computer use, hiding Harlequin romances, and amazon.com purchases demonstrating shopping compulsivity. Computer addiction is skyrocketing, and as yet there has been no federal agency created to manage the problem. My feeling is that these calls will increase dramatically over the next few years, until a national emergency exists. Then, perhaps a tax can be levied upon corporate money-grubbers whose hardware and software are destroying an entire generation of young Americans.

People having addictive personality disorder or who struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), may be vulnerable to the triggering of this behavior through computer use. Contributing factors range from users generating familiar feelings of control in their lives to being able to generate patterns of avoidance behavior or workaholism to having the opportunity to create and interact in a fantasy world that is free from stress, pain and worry. It is not out of the question that someone could become addicted to the feelings associated with the above patterns of use or the powerful stimulating feelings produced by the variety of activities available on their computer network. This could potentially happen without the computer user having any understanding or any intention of becoming addicted, which is characteristic of behavior patterns for many other addictions. Public education is desperately needed to warn the public that if some activity feels good or is unusually enjoyable, it is very likely the beginning of addictive disease, and that unless one gets help, the bedrock of despair lays straight ahead.

Because of the worldwide scope and ease of access, this communication venue is available to anyone, including those who knowingly can abuse and manipulate naive innocent computer network surfers. A recent example of this was the arrest of a middle-aged businessman who had connected with an adolescent girt via the computer network. His intent was to make arrangements to meet her and start a sexual relationship! In reality, the girl was an undercover detective posing as a minor. Subsequently, the man was arrested for attempting to have a sexual relationship with a minor. This was not entrapment, as his attorneys argued, because he trapped himself in his own web of debauchery.

The Internet Decency Act of 1996 is a step in the right direction. Thanks to Bill C., we now have a precedent for monitoring supposedly private communications. Federal investigators can march forward in a new war against more than just indecency - against computer addiction itself. Computer addiction is best understood as an infection caused by a computer virus that transports itself over phone lines and through modems into the sanctity of the American home, causing havoc, suffering and despair. Foreign countries are likely culprits in the spread of computer addiction. Our War on Drugs, a model for all nations, can divert some of its surveillance and interdiction resources to this outbreak of florid disease. It's Worldwide War on the Web.

Family Fallout
Computer addiction infects not only the computer user's family system, but any “system” this person's behavior is impacting (i.e. company, educational system, etc.). This profile is similar to the well-documented dynamic of alcoholism and the red-ripple-effect it has on their families, the familiar dynamics of denial, co-dependency, isolation, manipulation and the many other painful manifestations which any untreated addiction plays out in the family.

With the recent introduction of a worldwide computer network, computer users can develop new identities and new friends via their computers. This, combined with easy entrance to the smorgasbord of “chat boxes” allows users to access each other with the option of hiding their true identities. They can make up and be whoever or whatever they want to be. If they are not satisfied with yesterday's fantasy today, they can immediately become someone else. If they are normally shy, they can become bold via the computer. If they are struggling with their own sexual issues, they can be open and free on the computer with complete anonymity. This kind of freedom is intolerable in a free society.

Anyone can diagnose computer addiction.
It doesn't take a doctor or a lab test to tell the presence of this scourge. It takes nerve, though, and lots of it, to interpret your fellow human being's pleasure and liberty as computer addiction. First of all, remember, “Where there's smoke, there's fire,” so that if you think someone as a computer addiction, then that is almost certainly what it is. We at C-BAD know that first impressions count and that indecision can be fatal when it comes to helping someone you love who is running up phone bills, maybe flirting or worse with some Liberian while you are away trying to earn a living.

Remember that computer addiction is a behavioral addictive disease, i.e., BAD. BAD is the worst affliction known, a condition that by comparison would make a runny nose seem like a common cold. It is a primary condition that, mimicking life itself, is progressive. Left untreated will result in personal disintegration and ultimately death.

When trying to decide whether a computer user's specific behavior might be addictive, clarify the following issues, and remember, just because people say they have a right to sit before their computers, that does not mean that they do. If they have experienced in the past or presently have an active addiction in their lives, (i.e. alcohol, drugs), this does not mean that they automatically have, or will have, a problem with addictive behavior on their computers. However, if clients' use of the computer network is considered offensive, C-BAD should investigate the impact it's having. Skilled interventionists, trained in the methods of behavioral disease control, will quietly arrive at your home and, unobserved by your loved one, set up a monitor program designed to detect the presence of BAD.

Using the definition of alcoholism and addiction as defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (NCADD), as a starting point and adapting it to “Addictive Personality Disorder” as it applies to computer use, I came up with following ten warning signs or symptoms of computer addiction. Keep in mind that we at the Center for BAD Control are real doctors, and therefore we know about these things much better than ordinary people.

A demonstrated “lack of control” when trying to stop or limit the amount of time your loved one spends on the computer (breaking promises to self or others; promising to quit or cut down and not being able to do so). ”Lack of control” means that your judgment is better than your loved one's judgment, which, in itself, proves the existence of behavioral disease.

Being dishonest or minimizing the extent of time they stay on the computer, or covering up or being dishonest about what activities they participate in when on the computer. You have a right to know every move your loved one makes, in order to insure against pernicious behavioral diseases in your own home.

Negative consequences experienced by the computer user or his or her friends or resulting from computer use. Negative experiences prove the existence of BAD.

4. Participating in high-risk or normally unacceptable behaviors when using the computer, compromising morals and values based on the opportunity to remain anonymous and protected on the computer (a good test for them is to ask themselves if their spouses, partners or family would approve of what they were doing on the computer. If they don't approve, then BAD probably exists).

An overdeveloped sense of importance for the computer in their lives; defending their right to use the computer as much as desired, regardless of the fact that people in their lives are feeling left out and neglected (denial of the problem and justification; not being able to hear or feel what the other people are feeling and saying about their computer behavior);

Mixed feelings of euphoria (a “rush”), combined with feelings of guilt brought on by either the inordinate amount of time spent on the computer or the abnormal behavior acted out while using the computer. These pleasurable feelings can be discerned by smiling expressions on one's face, or by pleasant moods that don't appear justified when compared to one's own. They are malignant to the first degree when not accompanied by morbid guilt.

Feelings of depression or anxiety when something or someone shortens their time or interrupts their plans to use the computer. They should have no such feelings.

Preoccupation with the computer and computer activities when they are not using the computer; thinking about the computer and its activities when doing something else; i.e., talking about the computer while having a family dinner, while working on a project deadline etc.

Finding themselves using the computer at times when they are feeling uncomfortable, irritated or sad about something happening in their lives (feeling uncomfortable in their relationship so they will self-medicate and “hide out” on the computer); using time on the computer to become externally focused outside themselves as a way to avoid facing what is happening in their lives and avoiding feeling the appropriate feelings inside themselves (self medicating).

Experiencing financial concerns or problems in their lives as a result of money being spent on computer hardware, computer on-line charges or any other costs associated with computers (spending money which you know should have been allocated to other normal living expenses).

After answering all of these questions, if clients said “yes” to even one of these questions, they may have a problem with computer addiction. If they said “yes” to two questions, there is a very good chance they have BAD. If they answer yes to three or more, they are addicted to their computer and/or the activities they participate in while they are using it. This is BAD!

When you observe these signs you should contact C-BAD or a psychotherapist in their area who has experience in working with behavioral addictive behaviors. A safe place to start then would be an intervention in which phone lines are cut by black-clad behavioral disease interventionists, and routed through the Center for BAD Control. From there, an appropriate plan can be formulated for incarceration and quarantine at our Georgia facility pending further diagnostic procedures. BAD is a treatable disease, and one need not feel ashamed that a computer addict may occupy a place in one's heart. Treatment works!

J. L. George “Cyber-Doc” Shearing-Dom-Laryngeston, Ph.D., is president and CEO of the Center for Behavioral Addictive Disease (C-BAD) based in Atlanta GA, Washington D.C., and Southern California.