2. Night-Eating Syndrome
Similar to Binge-Eating Disorder, this malady is characterized by a compulsion to raid the fridge””but is distinguished by the time it takes place: well past midnight. It affects 1.1%”“1.5% of the general population, and people who suffer from it tend to eat at least a quarter of their daily calories in the middle of the night. Scientists believe Night-Eating Syndrome may be a pathway to obesity, partly because people who suffer from it tend to grab for calorie-laden comfort foods.
3. Internet Addiction
According to an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry, this is a disorder “that involves online and/or offline computer usage and consists of at least three subtypes: excessive gaming, sexual preoccupations, and email/text messaging.” It has several components, including excessive use, which is “often associated with a loss of sense of time or a neglect of basic drives”; withdrawal, which leads to “feelings of anger, tension, and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible”; tolerance, meaning “the need for better computer equipment, more software, or more hours of use”; and negative repercussions, “including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation, and fatigue.”
What a relief that internet addiction doesn’t involve excessive blogging!
Robroy,
LOL. As usual, I agree with you 100%.
David Handy+
hey #1 you stole that line from Instapundit!:)
Seriously, I enjoyed being off line for almost all of the last 4 days. was a nice break from things…..
Robroy, Denial is not a river in Egypt.
I don’t know about the other 7, but have no doubt that Post-traumatic Embitterment Disorder is real, and destructive of others as well as the sufferer. I would submit the trauma has to be quite bad to bring it on, but there’s no question my father-in-law after fleeing the Nazis at 14 and then the Chinese Communists at 24, with his parents, has spent the past 60+ years nurturing his PTES, and it has destroyed much in the lives of all his family members as well as his own. On reading about PTES separately in the LA Times a week ago my husband and I immediately agreed that the description fits this man to a T, and it is a sort of relief to have a frame around it and a handle it goes by – though it doesn’t seem likely to me that any pill will cure it. First there is the insurmountable obstacle of getting a PTES sufferer to agree to do anything about his syndrome, to start with!
I’m having a little trouble laughing. Granted, the DSM (the real purpose of which is to determine eligibility for insurance) has become trendy and is clearly led more by the organization’s politics than clinical experience. But some of these maladies are real, painful, and deserving of compassionate attention, especially by us who are called to love the afflicted. But then, perhaps I have Humor-Deficit Disorder today.