就在专家们开始组织编排下一版《心理疾病的诊断统计手册》的时候，有关是否把网瘾包括在最新的心理疾病中来的争论也已经开始了。

    Internet Addiction?

    A quiet restaurant. Good wine. An animated conversation. Then, mid-sentence, you catch him steal a quick sideways downward glance at his BlackBerry. And the nickname CrackBerry comes to mind. You might think: for some, the Internet is an addiction.

    Well as psychology experts ramp up to publish the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a debate has begun on whether to include Internet addiction in the next big book of mental illness. This month the Canadian Medical Association Journal published an article weighing both sides.

    Kimberly Young, director of The Center for Internet Addiction, says that while it might not be a well-defined illness, those who spend excessive amounts of time online suffer the same issues as other addicts, including lost jobs, broken marriages, or financial problems. Young says if it's the cause of major issues in your life, then you have a problem.

    But Vaughan Bell, at the department of neuroscience at King's College London, says that the Internet is not an activity and so can't be an addiction. He acknowledges that people can spend excessive time online, perhaps as an escape from depressionor anxiety, but to label the use of the Web as the central problem or an addiction does a disservice. His concern is that the focus needs to be on the real illness, not on the "medium of communication."

    Of course, maybe some thought needs to be turned the many different activities one can do on the Web. Pornography and gambling, for instance, are well-known addictions.

    In any event both Young and Bell admit that research on Internet addiction is limited and inconsistent, so far. And for that reason Bell says it will be tough to support its addition to the list of new afflictions.

    网瘾是病吗？

    在一个安静餐馆里，你和朋友喝着上好的葡萄酒，交谈也非常投机。说话之中，你发现他悄悄地瞟了一眼他的黑莓手机（BlackBerry）.这让你想起了一 个昵称"CrackBerry"（Crack有"毒品"的意思，CrackBerry 指用黑莓手机上瘾的人）.你可能会想：对某些人来说，上网是一种瘾。

    就在心理学家们紧锣密鼓准备出版下一版《心理疾病的诊断统计手册》的时候，有关是否把网瘾包括到心理疾病来的争论也已经开始了。本月发表在《加拿大医学会 杂志》（Canadian Medical Association Journal ）上的一篇文章对这个问题的正反两个方面都进行了讨论。

    Kimberly Young是网瘾研究中心（The Center for Internet Addiction）的主任，他说虽然网瘾可能还不是一种界定清晰的疾病，但是那些在网络上消耗大量时间的人与其他的"瘾君子"受到同样问题的折磨，这些 问题包括失业、婚姻破裂、或是经济问题。Young说如果网瘾是你生活种主要问题产生的原因的话，那么你肯定有问题。

    不过来自伦敦国王学院（King's College London）神经科学系的Vaughan Bell说，网络不是一项活动，因此不能成为一种瘾。他承认，或许作为一种抑郁性焦虑的逃避，人们可能会在网络上花过多的时间，但是把使用网络认定为"主 要问题"或者是一种"瘾",这会带来损害。他关心的问题是，人们应该把焦点放在真正的疾病上，而不是放在"交流的媒介"上。

    当然，或许有些人认为，我们能在网上做的许多不同活动需要改变。比如，观看淫秽作品和赌博是众所周知的上瘾行为。

    不管怎样，Young和Bell都承认，到目前为止有关网瘾的研究还很有限，而且结论也不一致。鉴于此，Bell说，支持把网瘾加入到新的心理疾病名单将会很困难。

    Vocabulary:

    Diagnostic:诊断的

    Statistical:统计的

    Disorder:紊乱；疾病

    Addiction:上瘾

    Affliction:折磨；痛苦

    Psychology:心理学

    Ramp up:加强；增加

    Well-defined:定义明确的

    Excessive:过度的

    Neuroscience:神经科学

    Depressionor: 抑郁的

    Anxiety:焦虑

    Disservice:损害；伤害

    Pornography:淫秽作品

    Inconsistent:不一致的