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).
In a fit of insomnia -- Liz
Elizabeth Galvan (ariadne@fc.net
& endaira@aol.com)
Modified December 11, 2002
| 
