Title : Internet Addiction Effectiveness of Acceptance and commitment therapy ACT
Abstract:
The use of internet has been increased all over the world and issues such as internet addiction is also on rise. Just like addiction to substance, it affects the individual’s personal, familial, social and financial aspects depends on the severity of the addiction.The addiction could be cyber sexual addiction, cyber-relational addiction, net compulsions, information overload, computer addiction and internet gaming disorder. The most identified categories of internet addiction include gaming, social networking, email, blogging, online shopping, and inappropriate internet pornography use. Dealing with issues related to addiction is also poses challenges as the efficacy of various treatments are inconclusive. There are many treatment options are available like pharmacotherapy, psychological therapies such as Cognitive behaviour therapy, commitment therapy, Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), Recreation therapy and Reality therapy and multimodal therapies. Many therapies are found to be effective for internet addiction but still there is no conclusive remarks can be made which is the best. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a young psychotherapeutic approach which encourages individual to open up to unpleasant feelings, and learn not to overreact to them, and not avoid situations where they are invoked. Its therapeutic effect is a positive spiral where feeling better leads to a better understanding of the truth and it uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility or the ability to enter the present moment more fully and either change or persist in behavior when doing so serves valued ends. Many studies have found it to be effective in dealing with internet addiction. The present paper would be focusing on the effectiveness of commitment in treating internet addiction. The paper will also explore the process of psychotherapy and the challenges. The cases treated from the medical college will be presented and the strengths and limitations of the therapy will be explored.
