Internet addiction disorder’s screening and its association with socio-demographic and clinical variables in psychiatric outpatients

OBJECTIVES: The Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD; Young 1998) seems to be poorly investigated among populations of psychiatric outpatients. Our aim has then been to verify the possible presence of Internet Addiction and its association with diagnosis, trauma, type of use, treatment span and socio-demographic variables in psychiatric outpatients. METHODS: The study has enrolled 63 subjects, out of the outpatients of the Territorial Psychiatric Services of a Hospital in Milan, Italy. Socio-demographic and clinical data got out of the medical records. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) has been used, with a score range 0-100. RESULTS: 36.5% of the participants show a mild impairment in daily functioning (IAT cut-off ≥40 and ≤69). No significant differences in IAT scores between males and females. Younger subjects show worst scores in IAD; as well as the shorter the treatment the outpa- tients went under, the higher the IAT’s scores. No significant differences in IAT’ scores following either the psychiatric diagnosis as the presence/absence of traumatic events. CONCLUSION: One third of the participants shows a somehow dysfunctional Internet use, although of a small magnitude. The clinical sample doesn’t satisfy the full criteria for IAD and this data could be explained by the effects of the treatment the patients underwent, either drug or psychotherapy, or by the fact that the psychiatric conditions of this popu- lation do not allow a frequent and intensive use of Internet. No significant differences gender-related: we discuss this fact under the light of the change in the use of Internet in females. Young people are the most risk-prone to develop IAD. Diagnosis and presence/ absence of trauma in the personal history do not look associated to the onset and develop- ment of IAD. These data are coherent to evidence already shown in literature. We explain a fraction of the score’s variability by the period of time the outpatient has been under- taken by the Territorial Psychiatric Service: the more the time, the more likely the benefit of treatment. Based on the outcome of this study, we state the convenience of a regular use of Internet Addiction screening in the routine patient intake assessment.