Cyber Disorders Essay, Research Paper

Cyber Disorders

Left out of the DSM-IV

The Cyber Disorders section includes disorders that have a dependency upon

cyberexistance as the predominant feature. The section is divided into three parts. The

first part describes e-mail episodes that serve as the building blocks for the disorder

diagnoses. The second part describes the Cyber Disorders themselves. The criteria sets

for most of the Cyber Disorders require the presence or absence of the e-mail episodes

described in the first part of the section. The third part includes the specifiers that

describe either the most recent e-mail episode, or the course of recurrent episodes.

The Cyber Disorders are divided into Posting Disorders, Flaming Disorders and CC

Disorders. The Posting Disorders (i.e. Lurking Disorder, Chronic Posting D isorder and

Posting Disorder not Otherwise Specified) are distinguished from the Flaming Disorders

by the fact that there is no history of ever having posted a Flame, or Flame-with-Apology.

CC Disorders (CC-All Disorder and Spam Disorder) may include episodes of Chronic

Posting, Flames, and/or Flame-With-Apologies but can be distinguished by the number of

addressees.

Lurking Disorder is characterized by one or more episodes of lurking (i.e. at least two

weeks of lurking or loss of interest in answering mail accompanied by at least four

additional symptoms of Lurking including high on-line time balances, walking away

from the computer while logged on, composing posts and deleting them without sending

them, etc.)

Chronic Posting Disorder is characterized by at least 4 weeks of posting to a newsgroup

or listserv more days than not, accompanied by additional Cyber symptoms such as

checking mail several times per day, posts in which the content is shorter than the

message header or sig, and messages of extreme anxiety when list volume drops.

Posting Disorder not Otherwise Specified is included for coding disorders with posting

features that do not meet the criteria for Lurking Disorder or Chronic Posting Disorder.

Flaming Disorder is characterized by one or more episodes of hot-tempered posts,

usually posted within seconds of receiving the ‘trigger’ message, but can be distinguished

from the Flame-With-Apology in that the sender has a sincere belief that he/she is 100%

correct and morally entitled to his/her feelings of outrage. Flaming Disorder is often

accompanied by Chronic Posting Disorder.

Flame-With-Apology Disorder is a milder form of the Flaming Disorder, in which the

poster sincerely apologizes for the first portion of the message and yet sends it anyway. A

variation of Flame-With-Apology exists in which posters staunchly defend their position

for 3 to 4 days, then abruptly back down and revert to Chronic Posting or Lurking.

The specifiers described in the third part of the section are provided to increase

diagnostic specificity, create more homogeneous subgroups, assist in treatment selection,

and improve the prediction of prognosis. Some of the specifiers describe the current or

most recent episode (i.e. Pine, Elm, Anonymous, With Humorous Features, and With

Uncomplicated Internet Access).