Luke Friesen: Module 3. Internet Addiction? Something bigger?

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/05/29/not-in-the-dsm-5-internet-addiction-parental-alienation-disorder/

The DSM is used as a compilation of descriptions of diagnoses for the purpose of setting a standard when trying to compare a patient's behavior to what has been labeled with a diagnosis. As we learned in the lecture video and in some of the articles, new diagnoses are being added to the DSM. This article was written two years ago, and the author was arguing for the addition of "Internet Addiction." Fast forward 2 years, and now the diagnosis of Internet Gaming Addiction is being classified as a true disorder. Some people would argue that disorders like this are actually a secondary disorder to a different disorder with symptoms that include an Internet Gaming Addiction. Parents have a huge role in the development of their children (obviously). The author brought up the idea of Parental Alienation Disorder being placed in the DSM. How many of these disorders arise from problems with the parents (outside of genetic and physiological issues) not being involved with their kids either by choice, or because kids are removed from the home (for good reasons or not), and thus forced to not engage with the target parent. Are kids becoming addicted to the Internet because they are not being loved properly and nourished by their parents? Some of these disorders, like Internet Addiction (just like any drug addiction) could be somewhat preventable. Internet Addiction is different because of the explosion of technology in the last 10 years, and some parents have self-inflicted the addiction by the way they allow kids to constantly be entertained by technology rather than parental engagement.