- (DPA) -- Gabriele Farke celebrated her 40th birthday
in a chat room. Her real-life friends had long since given up on her.
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- For two-and-a-half years, she spent every spare minute
logging on under the screen name "HexenKuss" (witches' kiss).
Her compulsive internet surfing cost her job. Her online addiction left
her no time or energy for other activities.
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- When things got really out of hand, the media specialist
trainee from Buxtehude, Germany, had just enough strength to take action.
She founded the first self-help group for online addiction in Germany.
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- She is not alone. Experts on addiction believe there
are millions of internet addicts around the world. Only a few years ago,
the theme was one that could easy be joked about. Yet today, counselling
centres warn strongly about the dangers of excessive internet use and have
oriented themselves to treat online addicts.
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- "Some 2.5 to 3 per cent of users are addicted to
the internet," said Matthias Jerusalem, leader of a representative
online study for the department of Pedagogic Psychology and Psychological
Health at the Humboldt University of Berlin.
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- More than 10,000 surfers are taking part in his study.
Young males up to 20 years of age and single people make up two particularly
high-risk groups, he said.
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- The behaviour of online addicts is comparable with that
of alcohol and food addicts, experts claim.
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- Professor Jerusalem sees addiction in psychic withdrawal
symptoms such as uneasiness, excitability, and dissatisfaction with missing
internet activities.
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- "Addiction" only applies when the user spends
practically the entire day on internet-related activities and when a user,
despite good intentions, cannot restrict his or her online activity.
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- Online addicts constantly need to raise their net "dose",
Professor Jerusalem said. Their internet use often leads to social problems
in the workplace, at school, or among family and friends.
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- The study showed that online addicts use the internet
for 35 hours a week on average. Four areas are particularly alluring for
online junkies - chat rooms and other communication forums, sexual content,
games, and online shops and auctions, said Ms Farke.
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- "Internet addicts suffer from a full loss of reality
- many rationalise their addiction away at first and don't notice that
they can't separate themselves from the internet any more," she said.
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- Demand for professional help has grown sharply in the
past years, said Werner Platz, Director of the Psychiatry and Psychotherapy/Addictive
Maladies department at the University Clinic of the Humboldt University.
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- "Five years ago, we treated our first patient ever
for online addiction," he said. "But now six to eight people
come to us each week for help."
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- Those who look for help have a good chance of recovering.
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- In addition to gradual reduction of internet usage, psychotherapeutic
treatment is also helpful, Mr Platz said, as online addictions often serve
as a warning of identity problems, depression, or mania. Most important
is that the afflicted come to accept their problem.
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- Ms Farke recommends that those suffering from this problem
reduce their ability to access the internet, by using childproofing software
and by putting the computer in a very unwelcoming place. This helps reduce
the chances of more 4am chat greetings such as, "Hello Hexenkuss,
still awake, eh?"
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- Copyright © 2004 The Sydney Morning Herald.
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- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/12/1073769461598.html
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