When one typically thinks of addictions, Internet Addiction Disorder may not be the first addiction that comes to mind. Internet Addiction Disorder or IAD, is characterized by an individual’s inability to control his/her Internet usage. Previous studies of IAD have heavily relied on psychological questionnaires to understand the disorder, but Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan and his team, have found that IAD may be attributed to an abnormal white matter structure typically found in the brain.

Hao and his colleagues used MRI technique to investigate specific features of the brain in 18 adolescents suffering from IAD. They discovered that IAD is characterized by impairment of white matter fibers connecting brain regions involved in emotional generation and processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control. Their research suggests that IAD may share psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of impulse control disorders and substance addition. These new findings have provided researchers with a new method of studying IAD and possibly treating the disorder.

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Petersen, K.-U., Thomasius, R.: Beratungs- und Behandlungsangebote zum pathologischen Internetgebrauch in Deutschland

Pabst, Lengerich/Berlin, 344 Seiten, ISBN 978-3-89967-663-1

te Wildt, B.: Medialität und Verbundenheit – Zur psychopathologischen Phänomenologie und Nosologie von Internetabhängigkeit

Pabst, Lengerich/Berlin, 384 Seiten, ISBN 978-3-89967-609-9