Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD)

Overview & Synopsis

Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is a disabling condition that calls for full consideration as it has a severe impact on young people's brain function. Internet addiction disorder (IAD), sometimes also called pathologic/problematic internet use (PIU), is widely defined in terms of an impulse control disorder characterized by uncontrolled Internet use. The disorder is associated with significant functional impairment and/or clinically measurable distress, anxiety, depression, and other psychopathological symptoms. IAD is not (yet) classified as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth edition (DSM-5), but a subtype of IAD, internet gaming disorder (IGD), which specifically refers to videogame addiction, has been included in Section 3 of the DSM 5. It is currently envisaged to include IAD and IGD also in the International Classification of Diseases for mortality and morbidity statistics ICD-11. Current neuroscience points towards a deregulation of the dopamine neurotransmitter pathways in the human brain as a physiological correlate of IAD.