Internet addiction is a newly emergent disorder. It has been found to be associated with a variety of psychiatric disorders. Information about such coexisting psychiatric disorders is essential to understand the mechanism of Internet addiction. In this review, we have recruited articles mentioning coexisting psychiatric disorders of Internet addiction from the PubMed database as at November 3, 2009. We describe the updated results for such disorders of Internet addiction, which include substance use disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, hostility, and social anxiety disorder. We also provide discussion for possible mechanisms accounting for the coexistence of psychiatric disorders and Internet addiction. The review might suggest that combined psychiatric disorders mentioned above should be evaluated and treated to prevent their deteriorating effect on the prognosis of Internet addiction. On the other hand, Internet addiction should be paid more attention to when treating people with these coexisting psychiatric disorders of Internet addiction. Additionally, we also suggest future necessary research directions that could provide further important information for the understanding of this issue.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which gender and other factors predict the severity of online gaming addiction among Taiwanese adolescents. A total of 395 junior high school students were recruited for evaluation of their experiences playing online games. Severity of addiction, behavioral characteristics, number of stressors, and level of satisfaction with daily life were compared between males and females who had previously played online games. Multiple regression analysis was used to explore gender differences in the relationships between severity of online gaming addiction and a number of variables. This study found that subjects who had previously played online games were predominantly male. Gender differences were also found in the severity of online gaming addiction and motives for playing. Older age, lower self-esteem, and lower satisfaction with daily life were associated with more severe addiction among males, but not among females. Special strategies accounting for gender differences must be implemented to prevent adolescents with risk factors from becoming addicted to online gaming.

These findings suggest that the psychological distress of nurses who worked during the SARS outbreak was moderate. The distress was more prominent among the two groups of nurses who were working with patients with SARS.

During the 2003 outbreak, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) spread to more than 30 countries. Not only did it cause severe health problems but it also imposed a great psychological impact on the public. SARS emerged in Taiwan during April 2003. This study investigates the psychosocial impact and the associated factors of depression of the SARS epidemic in Taiwan when the epidemic had just been controlled. A total of 1552 respondents were recruited in the study by random selection from the telephone book. Demographic data, SARS experience, self-perceived health state, neighborhood relationships, and depression were surveyed by telephone interviewing.Respondents were grouped as 'impacted group' and 'non-impacted group' according to whether they or their friends and family had been quarantined, or suspected of being infected. The psychosocial impact and associated factors were compared between the two groups. The 'impacted group' had higher depressive levels, poorer neighborhood relationships, poorer self-perceived health, and a higher economic impact than the 'non-impacted group'. The poorer self-perceived health and economic impact factors were associated with depression. The neighborhood relationship factor was negatively associated with depression for the 'impacted group', but not for the 'nonimpacted group'. The 'impacted group' had experienced greater psychosocial impact possibly due to the SARS impact, the economic downturn, poor self-perceived health conditions, and decreased social support systems. An appropriate mental health intervention to improve the self-perceived health condition, to provide instrumental and psychological support for the 'impacted group', and to decrease the stigmatization and discrimination from the public could have buffered the psychological impact from this epidemic disaster.