Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2012 Jan-Feb;34(1):80-7. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2011.09.013. Epub 2011 Oct 28.
The aim of this study was to investigate psychopathological symptoms, behaviors and hours spent online in patients with internet addiction disorder (IAD) at a new psychiatric service for IAD inside a policlinic.
Eighty-six subjects participated in the study. Thirty-three patients asking for psychiatric consultation regarding their excessive use of the internet were assessed with IAD interview, internet addiction test (IAT), Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and a brief sociodemographic survey. Moreover, patients had to respond to the following question: Over the last month, how much time have you spent online per week? At the end of psychiatric assessment, 21 of the 33 patients satisfied inclusion (IAD interview) and exclusion (psychotic disorders, neurocognitive deficits, dementia, serious mental delay, current alcohol or drug abuse) criteria. Twenty-one patients of the clinical group were compared with 65 subjects of a control group who were recruited online using IAT.
IAD patients showed significantly higher scores on the IAT compared to subjects of the control group. Only item 7 (How often do you check your e-mail before something else that you need to do?) showed a significant inverse trend. SCL-90-R anxiety and depression subscale scores and item 19 (How often do you choose to spend more time online over going out with others?) of the IAT were positively correlated with number of weekly hours spent online in IAD patients.
Findings suggest that a misuse of internet, characterized by many hours spent online avoiding interpersonal relationships with real and known people, could be an important criterion in the clinical interview in order to diagnose the IAD. The association between the lost interest in communicating with real people and psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression could be relevant to detect IAD patients.
本研究旨在探讨在门诊部新设立的网络成瘾障碍（IAD）精神病门诊中，IAD 患者的精神病理学症状、行为和上网时间。
86 名受试者参与了本研究。33 名因过度上网寻求精神科咨询的患者接受了 IAD 访谈、网络成瘾测试（IAT）、症状清单 90 修订版（SCL-90-R）和简短的社会人口学调查。此外，患者还需要回答以下问题：在过去的一个月里，你每周上网的时间是多少？在精神科评估结束时，33 名患者中有 21 名符合纳入（IAD 访谈）和排除（精神病、神经认知障碍、痴呆、严重精神发育迟滞、当前酒精或药物滥用）标准。21 名临床组患者与通过 IAT 在线招募的 65 名对照组受试者进行了比较。
与对照组受试者相比，IAD 患者在 IAT 上的得分明显更高。只有第 7 项（在你需要做的其他事情之前，你多久检查一次电子邮件？）显示出显著的反向趋势。SCL-90-R 焦虑和抑郁分量表得分以及 IAT 的第 19 项（你多久选择花更多时间上网而不是与他人外出？）与 IAD 患者每周上网时间呈正相关。
研究结果表明，大量上网时间来避免与真实和已知的人进行人际交流，可能是临床访谈中诊断 IAD 的一个重要标准。与与真实人交流的兴趣丧失相关的心理症状（如焦虑和抑郁）之间的关联可能有助于发现 IAD 患者。
