Can internet dependence be life threatening?

Internet addiction is a life-threatening addiction

04/03/2015

Around one million people in Germany are considered media-dependent. They are addicted to online games, cybersex portals or social networks. From the perspective of an expert, internet dependency is even a life-threatening addiction.

Around one million people are internet-friendly
About one million people in Germany are considered media-dependent. They are addicted to cybersex, online games or social networks. From the point of view of the medical expert Bert te Wildt internet dependence is even a life-threatening addiction. As the author and senior physician of the Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy of the Ruhr University, according to the „Rheinische Post“ (RP) said neglected sufferers their personal hygiene, nutrition and health. In addition, they have social problems in their personal environment and could no longer provide services in school, education and work. Many feel an inner restlessness or aggression. „The affected people urgently need a therapy.“

Patients often suffer from comorbidities
Especially children and adolescents are affected. As a study at the LWL Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the Ruhr University in Bochum showed last year, people who are addicted to Internet, exceptionally often suffer from comorbidities such as depression, anxiety disorders or attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD ). At the Bochum clinic, there is one of the few specialized outpatient clinics for such patients. Head of the Media Outpatient Department is Dr. med. Bert te Wildt. Basically, there are hardly any specific treatment offers in Germany.

„Critically accompanying the digital revolution“
Te Wildt explains in his new book „Digital Junkies - Internet addiction and its consequences for our children“, how internet addiction develops, how it can be diagnosed and what its consequences are. He also presents pedagogical and political prevention measures. „However, I am not concerned with unilaterally condemning the Internet, but critically accompanying the digital revolution“, explained the doctor. „If adolescents spend a large part of their childhood online, there is a great risk that they will grow into a dependency on the digital world right from the start, and that they will not really be at home in the analog real world and in their own bodies“, so the author. (Ad)