Internet addiction First media outpatient clinic in Bochum

First aid in Internet addiction: First NRW special outpatient clinic opened in Bochum

02/10/2012

More and more people are affected by a new addictive disease: internet dependence. Since Monday this week, the first ambulance in Internet addiction has opened. Patients who show symptoms of addiction through online games, cybersex, or social networking sites such as Facebook can contact the Special Outpatient Clinic of the University Hospital for Psychotherapeutic Diseases in North Rhine-Westphalia. Since month the new special ambulance in Bochum is opened.

Katrin W. from Berlin says of herself that she is addicted. "I can not think of anything more than cybersex with strangers". Maintaining important tasks such as referrals, working life or social contacts can hardly be done by those affected. "I can not get out of the situation myself," she says. Since her husband separated from her, Katrin W. has fallen into a deep emotional low. "Cybersex helped me in the beginning to make me feel like a full-fledged woman again." At some point, nothing else was important anymore. "The desire for more was barely enough to make me feel good."

First ambulance for internet addicts
According to a study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Health, around 560,000 people in Germany suffer from Internet addiction. As with other addictions, sufferers neglect real emotional relationships, dodge school, or barely work. As the first clinic in North Rhine-Westphalia, the new media ambulance at the Bochum Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the LWL University Hospital Internet Addicts wants to provide a first point of contact. "Nevertheless, the help for those affected in the Ruhr area is still rare," complains the head of the ambulance, Dr. med. med. Bert te Wildt, specialist in psychiatry, psychotherapy and addiction medicine. In Germany there are very few similar institutions that have adopted this specialty. Accordingly, there are clinics in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Hanover. Too few if about half a million children, adolescents and adults across Germany are affected.
The clinic offers regular consultations and group therapy offers. The psychiatrists and search experts explained this during the presentation of the new therapeutic special outpatient clinic "with the intention of experiencing ways" into a fulfilled life in the concrete reality "beyond the virtual world. Among other things, the therapy aims to quench the stimulus. It deliberately creates a situation that provokes internet addiction. In such moments, patients learn to resist the urge of addiction. The situations are created until the urge finally subsides.

Internet addiction is not recognized as a behavioral addiction
Internet addiction has not yet been recognized as a behavioral addiction by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an independent disease. Numerous physicians and therapists have long been pushing for recognition. In particular, computer role-playing games, in which thousands of people participate in online networks, can be addictive. This has now been scientifically proven, reports the expert. Te Wildt assumes that the number of patients will rise sharply in the future. "We need to be prepared for research, treatment and diagnostics to increase the number of internet addicts."

When do psychiatrists talk about internet addiction??
The definition of when an addiction exists is not always easy, especially with behavioral addictions. If you enjoy spending your time on the computer for a long time, then you're not addicted yet. However, those who can no longer control the behavior themselves and feel severe deficiency symptoms such as inner agitation or aggression, because other tasks such as school or work are pending, could suffer from dependence. Most outsiders also point out the addictive behavior. If the partner or friends criticize the excessive media consumption, could also be the first warnings for a dependency. (Sb)

Read about:
560,000 Germans are addicted to the Internet
Half a million people are addicted to the Internet
Eating Disorders through Facebook Usage?
Warning about online discussion of mental health problems