How to recognize a healthy use of online from an internet addiction? What is the therapy?
The recent period of health emergency has accustomed us to the continuous connection. Some for work in smartworking , some to keep in touch with family and friends, some to spend free time between online courses and physical activity in streaming, the daily connection rate has definitely increased . But when can we talk about internet addiction? And what is it about?
Hyperconnection is a form of obsessive / compulsive disorder already recorded in the 90s in the USA and therefore present well before the pandemic. It implies the inability to disconnect on the part of the individual who suffers from it, compromising his daily life. The detachment from the online therefore becomes very tiring and difficult, leading to states of abstinence such as nervousness and irritability.
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Adolescents are the most predisposed to this disorder , especially due to social isolation due to the coronavirus emergency and closed schools that adopt distance learning. The time dedicated to the internet is often greater than the other activities to be carried out on a daily basis and this also implies an impossibility of developing responsibilities and personality .
Treatment of the pathology
The healthy use of the internet differs from the pathological use because in the first case the user is online for a clear purpose and for a defined period of time , knowing how to manage with serenity in his daily life (in the case of abuse of social networks) is real communication is virtual communication.
The treatment – carried out in specialized addiction centers – is often part of the so -called “cognitive-behavioral” therapy used also in other addiction species. This type of therapy is usually limited in time and lasting almost 3 months or 12 sessions . Unlike other addictions, in this case the therapy focuses on reorganizing the use of the internet making it functional for a specific purpose (work or social in the case of isolation from Covid-19) without affecting or compromising the patient’s life.
Possible solutions: behavioral techniques
As explained by the psychotherapists of the AT Beck Institute in Rome , specialized in this type of therapy, it starts first with behavioral interventions and then ends with cognitive interventions. In practice, the patient is invited to reduce the duration of the online connection by replacing it with other activities , both physical and mental. To interrupt the addictive routine, the “practice of the opposite” will be adopted , ie replacing the habits of connection with other new habits that do not concern virtual life.
You will also be able to take advantage of “external obstacles” , that is, moments dedicated to something else that will replace the hours of internet connection. Obstacles can be assisted by explicit signals that invite the interruption of the dysfunctional habit, such as alarm clocks or programmed filters for monitoring the hours spent on the network.
Finally, the so-called “reminder cards” proposed by the clinician will be of great help: the patient will have to write down 5 negative consequences of using the internet and 5 benefits that he will gain by stopping its use.
During cognitive-behavioral therapy, changes and progress are recorded on a daily basis through observation tables . At the end of the therapy the patient will be able to understand which techniques have been more effective and which less so that they can be automated.
