Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979
Psychologist, Social Worker, Counselor, & MFT!!

Section 1
Track #1 - Introductory Techniques

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Welcome to the Home Study Course sponsored by the Healthcare Training Institute, homestudycredit.com.  This course is entitled, Interventions for Teen Internet Addicts

Our primary intent for this home study course is to provide quality education to foster your professional growth.  The Institute has provided quality education since 1979.
 
We appreciate that you have chosen us as a vehicle for you to earn your Continuing Education Credit.

The purpose of the course is to assist you in increasing your knowledge regarding how to treat patients, clients, etc. dealing with internet addictions.  As each case study is given, if the concepts seem to be applicable to your situation, I encourage you to turn your CD player off and make a few notes regarding the application of the principle to your setting.  However, these notes are for your purposes only and are not to be sent to the Institute.  Also each track is very content dense.  So feel free to replay the track to review the content either for your own purposes, or if you feel appropriate play the track in an individual or group session for client education.  Also permission is granted to reproduce this CD.  We encourage you to duplicate and give copies of this CD to colleagues, clients, etc. as you deem appropriate. We feel the information on our CD's is valuable.  Thus, we have an interest in distributing CD's in as many ways as possible, to benefit the greatest number of people, who have a need and are receptive to this practical information.

The questions in your Answer Booklet are sequential and deal with the section of content that preceded it.  For this reason, to facilitate the answering of each question, you might read the question from the Answer Booklet prior to listening to that CD track.  By knowing what the question is ahead of time, you will then know the content to listen for that contains the answer.  So just a hint, after you write down the answer to a question in your Answer Booklet, read on to the next question in order to give you a “heads up” to listen for the content that contains the answer to the next question.

Merely write the correct letter on the corresponding blank line in your answer booklet. Each answer is only used once. Keep in mind there is nothing tricky or hard about these questions.  They are merely intended to verify the playing of this CD.

For the purpose of brevity, most generally, I will use the term “therapists” or “mental health professional.”  However, don’t let these terms deter you from applying the concepts to your situations.  When you hear the word “therapists,” if your job title is social worker, psychologist, marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, professional counselor, resident director, program assistant, etc. merely substitute the appropriate term that is the most meaningful to you. In short, don’t let my use of the term “therapists” cognitively set you off track from hearing the content because your job title is school counselor, for example.  I will also use the term “client” for the purposes of brevity.  However, if you deal with patients, residents, students, consumers, etc., transpose “client” for the term that is the most meaningful to you in your work setting. 

On this CD we will discuss such topics as: introductory techniques; emotional attachment; escapism; time consumptions; underlying emotional causes; addicted children; and parents of internet addicts.

So  let’s get started

On this track, we will examine three techniques useful in introducing the idea of internet addiction to teen clients.  These three introductory techniques include: Defining Addiction; Web Quiz; and Assessing the Damage.

The opinion research corporation conducted a telephone survey to compare the percentages of internet usage among adults and teens.  According to the survey, 66 percent of adults use the internet against a staggering 89% of teens.  This new generation is developing in a time of mass consumerism and mass communication.  Although they may feel more connected, they are in fact only connected to a world that does not reflect reality.  This fantasy web land seduces teenagers into an escapism that can ultimately result in addiction.

#1 Defining Addiction
The first technique is "Defining Addiction".  I have found that many clients associate the word "addiction" with "substance abuse" and never with behaviors or lifestyle choices.  I often find it useful to define for them the broader definition in relation to behavioral actions.  Ron, age 14, had first been introduced to the seductive power of the web through online movie message boards in which he made a completely different identity for himself.  During the week, he would spend over eighty hours online posting on message boards and playing games.   He would rarely sleep.  When he finally collapsed from exhaustion one day at school, Ron had suspected that it might be an emotional problem.  He described his lifestyle to me, and I decided to suggest that he might have an addiction to the internet.  Ron stated, "How can I be addicted?!  It's just a machine.  It's not like I'm inhaling anything!"  Have you heard claims like this before?  I asked him the following question, "Ron, what do you think an addict is?"  He stated, "Someone who can't get control of their lives because of a drug."  I replied, "What if you replaced ‘drug’ with 'action'?  Couldn't that also have the same effect on someone's life too?  Really, an addiction is a behavior or substance that draws us in so much that it interferes with our lives and we lose control."  Think of your Ron.  How would you define "addiction" to him or her?

#2 Web Quiz
The second technique is "Web Quiz" which I found useful in helping Ron become more aware of how his addiction was affecting his life.  The quiz asked specific questions relating to Ron's attitude towards the internet.  The quiz also focused on the dimensions of his every day life.  Listen to the following questions and think about your internet-addicted client.  Would he or she benefit from this quiz?

1. Do you feel preoccupied with the internet?
2. Do you feel the need to use the internet with increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction?
3. Have you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop internet use?

After taking the quiz, Ron stated, "This sounds a lot like what a heroin addict would be doing, not a sane person.  But it's exactly how I've lived my life for the past few months."  Think of your client.  What other questions could you ask him or her?  Would playing this track for one of your internet-addicted clients be beneficial?

#3 Assessing the Damage:  Part One
In addition to "Defining Addiction" and "Web Quiz,” the third technique is "Assessing the Damage."  Janelle, age 15, had become increasingly involved with teen chat rooms that were sometimes notoriously frequented by pedophiles.  She had already been propositioned twice by males who told her they were 16 and younger.  Janelle stated, "I loved the attention.  It was great!  No one judged me except by what I gave them.  Everyone at school calls me fatso.  I wasn't fat to those guys at their computer.  But when I couldn't stop, it started getting serious.  They started calling my house and my mom picked up once.  I was so scared they were going to find me."  I asked her, "How do you know that those chat buddies aren't all thirty or older?  Would they tell you if they knew it would repulse you?"  Janelle stated, "Well, no.  And I guess I can't really tell how they feel about me over instant messenger."  I asked Janelle to "Assess the Damage" that her internet usage has done to her actions in public and to write these observations down in a journal.  Janelle wrote, "I can't trust anyone I can't see.  I'm afraid of new things.  I feel much better being quiet and by myself."  Rather than improving her self-esteem, her trauma with the internet caused Janelle to become more of a recluse.  Think of your Janelle.  Is he or she suffering from low self-esteem?  Is he or she compensating with long hours on the computer?

#4 Assessing the Damage:  Part Two
The second part of "Assessing the Damage" involves measuring the extent of the internet usage during a client's day.  I gave my teen clients Janelle and Ron the following questionnaire to assess how far they had allowed themselves to become involved with the internet.  I asked them to answer the following questions with "not at all," "rarely," "occasionally," "often," or "always."  The questionnaire included, but was not excluded to the following questions.

1. How often do you find that you stay online longer than you intended?
2. How often do you form new relationships with fellow online users?
3. How often do others in your life complain to you about the amount of time you spend online?

While Janelle only answered "occasionally" to many of these questions, Ron answered "often" and "always" to nearly every question.  Obviously, these two clients varied significantly in their absorption into the internet.  Think of your Ron and Janelle.  How do you think he or she would respond to these questions?  How deeply are they involved in internet usage?

On this track we presented techniques useful in introducing the idea of internet addiction to clients.  These techniques included: Defining Addiction; Web Quiz; and Assessing the Damage.

On the next track, we will examine types of emotional attachment to the internet.

QUESTION 1
What are three techniques useful in introducing the idea of internet addiction to clients? To select and enter your answer go to Answer Booklet