Dubious study by Shanghai Mental Health Centre

The Independent today published a news item reporting research at Shanghai Mental Health Centre that purports to show that

changes in the brain similar to those seen in people addicted to alcohol, cocaine and cannabis. In a groundbreaking study, researchers used MRI scanners to reveal abnormalities in the brains of adolescents who spent many hours on the internet, to the detriment of their social and personal lives.

Addicted! Scientists show how internet dependency alters the human brain

Researchers in China scanned the brains of 17 adolescents diagnosed with “internet addiction disorder” who had been referred to the Shanghai Mental Health Centre, and compared the results with scans from 16 of their peers.

The results showed impairment of white matter fibres in the brain connecting regions involved in emotional processing, attention, decision making and cognitive control. Similar changes to the white matter have been observed in other forms of addiction to substances such as alcohol and cocaine.

“The findings suggest that white matter integrity may serve as a potential new treatment target in internet addiction disorder,” they say in the online journal Public Library of Science One. The authors acknowledge that they cannot tell whether the brain changes are the cause or the consequence of the internet addiction. It could be that young people with the brain changes observed are more prone to becoming addicted.

Professor Michael Farrell, director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia, said: “The limitations [of this study] are that it is not controlled, and it’s possible that illicit drugs, alcohol or other caffeine-based stimulants might account for the changes. The specificity of ‘internet addiction disorder’ is also questionable.”

Given such a small sample (17 adolescents from a population of 1.35 billion … one would have thought they’d have had little trouble rustling up a few more) one can undoubtedly place little credence in the scientific value of the study.  Nevertheless I wonder whether extensive use over a long period of the Internet and, in particular, of social media (Facebook, virtual worlds, Twitter, etc) might, in the formative years, have profound psychological consequences.

If anyone knows of more respectable scientific studies, I’d be delighted to hear about them.