Day after day you are glued to your computer screen. You cannot get enough of online games, net shopping or cyber surfing. Your social life gets worse, and so does your health. Chances are that you are addicted to the Internet and you need counseling.
On November 8, an Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) diagnostic manual（诊断手册）was approved by a group of psychologists in China, who agreed that Internet addiction is a mental disease. According to a report on Xinhuanet.com, the manual for the first time gives a clear time standard for diagnosing IAD, saying that surfing the Internet for more than six hours a day, not for the purpose of studying or working, and having done so for less than three months, might be a symptom of IAD.
Addiction symptoms vary
Besides the long online time, some other symptoms would also help doctors diagnose IAD patients, such as having a strong desire for the Internet and feeling physical discomfort, becoming easily angry, being unable to concentrate on things or finding it difficult to sleep if unable to get online.
Apart from these conditions, other symptoms are also listed in the manual. If a net surfer cannot get out of the virtual world of Web games, which has already affected his/her capability to study or work, or he/she feels little interest in doing anything but jumping online or is afraid to communicate with others, he/she is also considered to be an IAD sufferer.
According to the World Health Organization, mental disease sufferers have two major characteristics: they bring suffering to both themselves and their families, and their abilities to be involved in social activities are affected.
Mental illness stigma（污名）
However, it has resulted in a backlash（反对）from the public, due to the fact that mental disease is a very sensitive term to Chinese.
Many netizens dropped comments expressing their doubts about the manual, saying that they could not accept they might be suffering from mental illness just because they spent too much time on the Internet.
Experts said there is a misunderstanding of the manual. Explaining that IAD sufferers are not “crazy people”, they call on society at large to change their understanding of mental disease. Mental disease covers a wide range of psychological or behavioral problems, such as depression.
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New Solutions to Internet Addiction |
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Information about IAD |
Problem: Internet addiction makes your social life and 1._____ get worse. Standard for diagnosing IAD: Internet addiction is a 2._____ disease when you surf the Internet more than six hours a day for less than three months not to3._____ or work. |
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4.___addiction symptoms |
They are eager to surf the Internet, physically uncomfortable, easy to be angry, unable to concentrate or 5._____ to sleep. unable to get out of the 6._____ world of Web games, not 7._____ in doing anything else or afraid to communicate with others. |
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8.___on mental illness |
Many netizens regard mental disease as a very 9. _____ term. Experts think it necessary to 10. _____ mental disease because it covers a wide range. |