Jan 25, 2008
Book written by: Kimberly Young and Patrice Klausing, O.S.F.
Addiction to the Internet is becoming a new problem for many people and is ruining many lives and families. The authors, Sr. Patrice Klausing, O.S.F. (a licensed counselor) and Dr. Kimberly Young (a licensed psychologist) explore and introduce the reader to this new addiction. At first, some may think this is a discussion of Internet pornography addiction only – while it does examine this, it also focuses on other addictions connected with the Internet that have been recognized by psychology. These include Internet gambling addiction, Internet shopping addiction, chat room addiction, Internet games, and others.
This book is meant to help addicts, their families and friends to first identify the addiction. Klausing and Young warn that there are only a few psychologists who are trained in or recognize Internet addiction. The authors suggest that addicts make sure their therapist is up-to-date on current research before pursuing therapy with a particular therapist. The authors explain how to do this.
There are different things to be addicted on the Internet, but there seems to be similar results. For instance a person will spend all their waking time on the Internet either in a chat room or viewing a website or many websites. An addicted person most likely will spend money at these websites and go into debt. They will lose interest in family, friends and their jobs. They will sneak around to get their fix and lie about it. Many will pursue their addiction at work and will eventually get caught and fired. Sometimes the addict will lose their spouse and family especially if they have become too involved in pornography or chat rooms looking for sex.