Abstract
In 2009, one of the major Dutch addiction care organizations initiated a pilot program to explore the possibility of using an existing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing based treatment program (‘Lifestyle Training’) to treat internet addiction. The current study evaluates this pilot treatment program by providing a qualitative analysis of the experiences of the therapists with the treatment of 12 self-proclaimed internet addicts. Therapists report that the program, which is ordinarily used for substance dependence and pathological gambling, fits the problem of internet addiction quite well. Interventions mainly focused on controlling and reducing internet use, and involved expanding (real life) social contacts, regaining a proper daily structure, constructive use of free time, and reframing beliefs. Therapists further indicated that the treatment achieved some measure of progress for all of the 12 treated patients, while patients reported satisfaction with the treatment and actual behavioral improvements.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Volksbond Foundation Rotterdam for financial support of the project. The therapists are thanked for their contribution to the treatment, the evaluation meetings, and their critical reading the results section of this manuscript. Additionally, we would like to thank Cas Barendregt from the IVO Addiction Research Institute for his advice and practical support. Finally, we thank Nicholas Caruana and Samantha Flood for proofreading the document.
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Authors have no conflict of interest. Authors have full control of the primary data, which are available to review if requested.
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van Rooij, A.J., Zinn, M.F., Schoenmakers, T.M. et al. Treating Internet Addiction With Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: A Thematic Analysis of the Experiences of Therapists. Int J Ment Health Addiction 10, 69–82 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-010-9295-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-010-9295-0