Two psychiatrists in Taiwan have diagnosed a new mental disorder they call IAD – iPhone Addiction Disorder – giving two case examples of extreme iPhone overuse by individuals.
In one case, a high school adolescent male patient was diagnosed with the condition because he was staring at his iPhone screen 24 hours a day, staying up at night surfing the internet, even causing him to miss school frequently. The adolescent required hospitalization on a psychiatric ward due to the inability to part with his iPhone.
In the other case, a 31 year old female saleswomen was diagnosed after she was unable to focus while driving due to constantly using her iPhone while at stoplights – impairing her ability to drive properly. If this is the type of activity it takes to be diagnosed with “iPhone Addiction Disorder” then a majority of smartphone users might fall under the category.
Interestingly enough, Dr. Kuang-hui Lee, a Taipei-based psychiatrist, states there is already a psychiatric disorder called CAD – Computer Addiction Disorder – and it’s now been eclipsed by the so called iPhone Disorders.
We remain a bit skeptical on these types of stories due to their lack of evidence by reputable medical journals, but as the internet moves mobile these anecdotal stories might actually gain in number.
No word yet if Android, Symbian, or Blackberry phones are as addictive, and good luck finding the ICD 9 code for this one.
Source: TechEye
