Hardly anything keeps Veronica Randall off the Internet. A $1,000 phone bill didn’t keep her away. Neither do the pleas of her 13-year-old daughter.

She said she has what she needs online: a boyfriend, more than 200 friends and a supportive cyber-family.

“I know I am addicted. There is no doubt about it,” said the 34-year-old Colville mother of four who spends as much as six hours daily on the Net after work and college classes.

She is one of 6 to 10 percent of Internet users in the United States considered addicted to online computer activities ranging from fantasy games to chat rooms.

“I have spent more time online than I meant to,” said Randall, listing Net addiction symptoms. “I have given up real-life activities. I have turned down offers with friends. I have spent thousands of dollars on computer equipment. I have had my children tell me they think the computer is more important to me than they are.”

Jay Parker of Redmond’s Internet /Computer Addiction Services said Net addiction may be more common in places like Seattle, where intense computer use is the norm.

“There is some inherent denial here that this is a problem,” said Parker, who spoke at the 13th Annual Northwest Conference on Addictions ending today in Seattle.

Net addiction is becoming increasingly recognized as a psychological problem, a disorder that may increase in frequency as more people come online.

Statistics show 9 million to 15 million people access the Net each day, with an estimated 200 million total worldwide users.

“There are people who spend 14 to 18 hours a day online. They work 10 hours on the computer then go home and get online. And everybody they know does the same thing. It becomes normal,” he said.

An avid Internet user differs from an addict, said Maressa Hecht Orzack, a Harvard University psychologist and director of Massachusetts based Mclean Hospital’s Computer Addiction Services.

“Addiction is when you can’t stop, you can’t get away from it and you need to do it more and more often,” said Orzack.

“It’s craving it when it’s not there. It’s being depressed, irritable or angry when you are not on the computer. It’s flunking out of school. It’s not feeding the children. It’s oversleeping after spending all night online. It’s neglecting work.”

Psychiatrists such as Andee McGraw at the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery first recognized Net addiction about five years ago, observing it in teenagers who racked up monthly Internet service phone bills of $2,000 or more.
“In meeting with these families, I realized these were 14-15- and 16-year-olds. Choosing not to go to vacation to places like Hawaii and Florida because it would take them away from their computer,” said McGraw.

Orzack treated one teen who became so engrossed with the Internet that his parents literally dragged him away from the computer. Another boy became so enraged after a chat room participant insulted him that he punched a family member.

“He was too caught up in his fantasy world,” said Orzack.

The few studies available in this young area of psychology show that teenagers and young adults – particularly the shy, socially awkward, lonely and depressed – face the greatest risk of Net addiction.

People living in isolated areas, or those with a history of other addictive behaviors, also struggle.

It is not a problem linked only to the younger, computer-savvy set, Orzack said.

Her clients range from a 70-year-old retiree trying to cut back on the 40 hours he spends each month checking online stocks to a self-employed mother who sometimes forgets to feed her children because she is so engulfed in chat rooms.

“It’s a powerful escape tool offering instant positive feedback.”

Men and women use the Net differently, and become addicted in different ways – often following gender stereotypes.
Men, for example, tend to seek out power and dominance through online interactive games and cyber-sex.

Women often seek out close friendships and romantic partners in chat rooms.

Two years ago Randall, who describes herself as “outgoing and an extremely bad flirt,” met a firefighter from Texas while playing her favorite online game, EverQuest. Cyber chatting turned to phone calls. She and her children eventually moved from Eastern Washington to be with him, and then back to Washington when the relationship ended this fall.

She resumed her Net gaming, often holding her 3-year old daughter in her lap as she types.

“I recognize this may not be healthy,” she said, adding that last week she spent three hours online researching ways to manage her addiction. “I was disgusted to see I fit the profile of an addict.”

She is now considering counseling.

“I want to do this for my kids,” she said. “I’ve missed out on quality time with them. I want to see I’ve made positive changes.”

Psychiatrists around the country now treat Net addiction along with gambling, drug, sex and food addictions.
Clinics focused specifically on Net addictions have been launched at Proctor Hospital in Peoria, Ill., and at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.

There’s even online help (www.netaddiction.com) – which skeptics like Orzack compare to treating an alcoholic in a bar.

Counselors at the University of Washington and Washington state University say they have worked with students struggling to balance studies with Internet use. And many company fringe benefit packages cover treatment for a Net addiction identified as an impulse control disorder.

“My first client who turned me onto this phenomenon six years ago was fired twice, first from Microsoft and then another software company, for playing multi-user Net games. He eventually lost his marriage because he could not curb his behavior,” said Hilarie Cash, co-founder of Internet/Computer Addiction Services in Redmond.

With therapy, he resumed his music hobby, started exercising and socializing, Cash said.

Cash said Net addiction, like any addiction, is treatable with a variety of methods. She uses cognitive behavioral therapy, which teaches the patient to identify destructive behavior, solve the problem and learn skills to prevent relapse.

Other psychiatrists treat Net addiction like alcoholism, walking patients through a 12-step approach. Some treatment is aided with therapy groups.

In cases where a computer is essential to a job, monitors and alarms prevent the user from venturing into alluring and addictive places such as chat rooms or gaming areas.

“A computer addiction is like an eating disorder. People with eating disorders can’t stop eating, but they could stop eating sugar. People today can’t stop working with computers and the Internet, but they could stop wit the games,” said Cash.

“in this day and age, people have to learn how to use the Internet in manageable ways.”