Experts Worry that NSED Could Be Worse than C-Span Addiction
Alarm is growing among mental health experts about a new computer- and Internet-related illness that strikes all ages but appears most frequently among people in their twenties and thirties.
The malady is called Narcissistic Search Engine Disorder. It is a compulsive, addictive behavior in which someone incessantly conducts Internet searches based on their own name or other search terms related to their name or their work.
“Frankly, I’m worried. I’ve never seen something like this spring up so quickly and spread so pervasively,” said Dr. David Schneiderman, a Philadelphia neurologist and psychiatrist who studies the nexis between narcissism and technology.
“Marriages are failing, careers are falling apart and children are going hungry and unbathed. So far, there is no cure on the horizon and treatment consists only of cutting off access to the Internet and intensive talk therapy,” Schneiderman said.
Schneiderman ticked off recent cases of NSED he has treated:
– A 33-year-old traffic engineer gained some professional visibility after he devised a new method that used blood pressure monitors on street lamp poles to speed up traffic flow at congested intersections. Soon, he was sitting for hours on end at his computer incessantly entering his name and search terms related to his work into a dozen or more search engines.
“If the number of hits on his name went up, he would be elated to the point of mania,” Schneiderman said. “When they went down, he would fall into a deep depression that included suicidal thoughts.”
– A stay-at-home mother with four children in elementary school became deeply involved in blogging about the use of Crayolas and construction paper to help children master toilet training and unlock hidden memories of abuse when they were toddlers.
“She would stay up all night tracking her name and toilet training with construction paper on Google and Yahoo” Schneiderman said. “As her condition deteriorated, she began incessantly starting new blogs and flooding them with dozens, then hundreds of posts that often made little sense, all to drive up the numbers when she searched on her name.”
So far, no preferred treatment modality for NSED has emerged.
The Crayloa mother’s parents and husband intervened. They took away her computer, closed her Internet access accounts, cut off telephone service and locked her inside a bedroom at night. Although she could no longer search the Internet for her name, she refused to eat and fell into a depression.
“It’s touch and go with her at the moment,” Schneiderman said. “My colleagues and I are baffled.”
The traffic engineer’s supervisor and wife teamed up to fight his NSED. All access to computers at work and home was eliminated and the employer agreed to finance intensive psychotherapy sessions.
“He’s in remission, but I would hesitate to say he’s cured,” Schneiderman said.
After Schneiderman wrote on his blog about his experiences with NSED, he was flooded with e-mail from both doctors who treat the malady and patients coping with it.
“Based on my contacts with others — and, of course, it’s purely anecdotal — I would say we have something here that could be as dangerous and pervasive as addiction to Oprah or Jerry Springer,” Schneiderman said. “I see a lot of paralels with C-Span addictions, and as we all know, there is no treatment that can cure C-Span addiction once and for all.”