上網(wǎng)過度者易出現(xiàn)抑郁癥狀

People who spend a lot of time surfing the internet are more likely to showsigns of depression, British scientists said on Wednesday。

　　But it is not clear whether the internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it。

　　Psychologists from Leeds University found what they said was "striking" evidence thatsome avid net users develop compulsive internet habits in which theyreplace real-life social interaction with online chat rooms and socialnetworking sites。

　　"Thisstudy reinforces the public speculation that over-engaging in websitesthat serve to replace normal social function might be linked topsychological disorders like depression and addiction," the study'slead author, Catriona Morrison, wrote in the journal Psychopathology。

　　"This type of addictive surfing can have a serious impact on mental health."

　　Inthe first large-scale study of Western young people to look at thisissue, the researchers analyzed internet use and depression levels of1,319 Britons aged between 16 and 51.

　　Of these, 1.2 percent were "internet addicted", they concluded。

　　These"internet addicts" spent proportionately more time browsing sexuallygratifying websites, online gaming sites and online communities,Morrison said. They also had a higher incidence of moderate to severedepression than normal users。

　　"Excessiveinternet use is associated with depression, but what we don't know iswhich comes first -- are depressed people drawn to the internet or doesthe internet cause depression?," Morrison said。

　　"Whatis clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive use of theinternet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies."

　　Morrisonnoted that while the 1.2 percent figure for those classed as "addicts"was small, it was larger than the incidence of gambling in Britain,which is around 0.6 percent。

　　英國科學(xué)家于本周三稱，經(jīng)常上網(wǎng)的人出現(xiàn)抑郁癥狀的可能性更大。

　　但目前還不清楚究竟是上網(wǎng)導(dǎo)致了抑郁，還是抑郁的人更喜歡上網(wǎng)。

　　利茲大學(xué)的心理學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)了據(jù)他們稱“十分顯著”的證據(jù)，一些酷愛上網(wǎng)的人形成了強(qiáng)迫性的網(wǎng)絡(luò)習(xí)慣，他們將網(wǎng)絡(luò)聊天室和社交網(wǎng)站取代了真實(shí)生活中的社交。

　　該研究報告在《精神病理學(xué)》期刊上發(fā)表。報告主要撰寫人凱翠歐娜•莫里森在其中寫道：“該研究強(qiáng)調(diào)了一個普遍觀念，即過多地使用那些旨在取代正常社交功能的網(wǎng)站可能會導(dǎo)致抑郁癥和網(wǎng)癮等心理失調(diào)問題。”

　　“這種類型的過度上網(wǎng)會對心理健康造成嚴(yán)重影響。”

　　這是就這一問題對西方國家的年輕人開展的首次大規(guī)模研究，研究人員分析了年齡在16歲到51歲之間的1319名英國人的上網(wǎng)習(xí)慣和抑郁程度。

　　他們得出結(jié)論，在這些人中，有1.2%的人上網(wǎng)成癮。

　　莫里森說，這些“網(wǎng)癮患者”花在瀏覽色情網(wǎng)站、在線游戲網(wǎng)站和網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)上的時間更多。和普通網(wǎng)民相比，他們出現(xiàn)中度到重度抑郁的幾率更高。

　　莫里森說，“過度上網(wǎng)和抑郁有關(guān)，但是我們不知道二者的因果關(guān)系——是抑郁的人更愛上網(wǎng)還是上網(wǎng)導(dǎo)致了抑郁？”

　　“但有一點(diǎn)是清楚的，那就是對于一小部分人來說，過度上網(wǎng)可能是抑郁傾向的先兆。”

　　莫里森指出，盡管1.2%這個比例僅從“網(wǎng)癮患者”這一群體本身來看不是個大數(shù)字，但該比例高于英國的賭博率，后者約為0.6%。