Internet addiction is a ‘clinical disorder’

Obsessive internet use is a public health problem which is so serious it should be officially recognised as a clinical disorder, according to a leading psychiatrist.

Sufferers spend unhealthy amounts of time playing online games, viewing pornography or emailing.

They suffer four symptoms: They forget to eat and sleep; they need more advanced technology or more hours online as they develop ‘resistance’ to the pleasure given by their current system; if they are deprived of their computer, they experience genuine withdrawal symptoms; And in common with other addictions, the victims also begin to have more arguments, to suffer fatigue, to get lower marks in tests and to feel isolated from society.

Early research into the subject found highly educated, socially awkward men were the most likely sufferers but more recent work suggests it is now more of a problem for middle-aged women who are spending hours at home on their computers.

Psychiatrist Dr Jerald Block said some sufferers were so addicted to the internet that they required medication or even hospital treatment to curb the time they spent on the web.

He said: “The relationship is with the computer. It becomes a significant other to them. They exhaust emotions that they could experience in the real world on the computer through any number of mechanisms: emailing, gaming, porn.”

He added: “It’s much more acceptable for kids to talk about game use, whereas adults keep it a secret. Rather than having sex, or arguing with their wife or husband, or feeding their children, these adults are playing games.”

Dr Block, of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, in the USA, first made the claims in an editorial for the American Journal of Psychiatry.

British psychiatrists have previously reported that between five and 10 per cent of online users are internet addicts.

Secrets of James Bond’s success with women unravelled

The secrets of what makes James Bond so irresistible to women have been unravelled by scientists.

According to a new study, men who are narcissistic, thrill-seeking liars and all round “bad boys” tend to have the greatest success finding more sexual partners.

Scientists believe that the root of their good fortune is simply that they try it on with more women, therefore by the law of averages are likely to ensnare more.

They say these type of men adopt a more predatory, scatter gun approach to conquests and have more of a desire to try new things which helps when it comes to meeting women, according to the study highlighted by New Scientist magazine.

However, the study shows that women who share the same personality traits do not enjoy the same success with the opposite sex.

Scientists have long speculated why famous “bad boys” like Mick Jagger and Warren Beatty appear to have more success with women.

Researchers at New Mexico State University tested 200 university students for three characteristics which when taken together have been dubbed the “dark triad” by psychologists.

These are a tendency to lie and manipulate others, the selfishness associated with narcissism and impulsive behaviour that gives little thought to consequence.

The scientists then asked the students about their attitudes to sex, including how many partners they had had and whether they desired short-term sexual encounters.

The result of the study, presented at the Human Behaviour and Evolution Society conference in Kyoto, Japan, earlier this month, found that those who were ranked highest for “dark triad” characteristics also tended to have the largest number of sexual partners.

Peter Jonason, from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, who led the study, said that many of the traits were those seen in Ian Fleming’s fictional spy and could explain James Bond’s success with women.

“He’s clearly disagreeable, very extroverted and likes trying new things – killing people, new women,” he said.

Mr Jonason believes that their link to a higher number of sexual partners could explain why these traits have survived over generations, despite their negative social connotations.

He said: “We have some evidence that these three traits are really the same thing and may represent a successful evolutionary strategy.”

However, he believes that if the traits were more common across the population then their link with sexual success would decline, because women would become more guarded.

Another study by David Schmitt, from Bradley University, Illinois, also presented at the Kyoto meeting, suggested that the link between these characters traits and an increase in the number of sexual partners was true across different countries and different cultures.