According to a small study conducted in China, an "addiction" to the Internet can lead to structural damage of your brain.
The research studied 17 teens with Internet Addiction Disorder and found that each had "structural and functional interference in the part of the brain that regulates organization, possibly causing cognitive impairment similar to that caused by gambling and alcoholism." (Mashable)
During the course of the study, researchers took MRI scans of the subjects to measure the organization of the brain via white matter. The method, fractional anisotropy (FA), was shown to be lower in the teens with IAD.
Reads the report: "Overall, our findings indicate that Internet addiction disorder has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involved in emotional generation and processing, executive attention, decision making and cognitive control. The results also suggest that IAD may share psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of substance addiction and impulse control disorders."
Internet addiction is expected to be added to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) latest update, in 2013.
During the course of the study, researchers took MRI scans of the subjects to measure the organization of the brain via white matter. The method, fractional anisotropy (FA), was shown to be lower in the teens with IAD.
Reads the report: "Overall, our findings indicate that Internet addiction disorder has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involved in emotional generation and processing, executive attention, decision making and cognitive control. The results also suggest that IAD may share psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of substance addiction and impulse control disorders."
Internet addiction is expected to be added to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) latest update, in 2013.
