CHICAGO -- If you're the kind of always-connected technophile who spends hours on end in front of a computer, you may have a mental illness, according to an editorial published in a leading psychiatric journal.

An article published in this month's Journal of Psychiatry argued that addiction to the Internet is a real malady that should be given official status.

The author, Dr. Jerald J. Block, is a physician based in Portland, Oregon, who owns a patent on a technology to restrict Internet access.

Block argued that Internet addiction can involve excessive gaming, sexual preoccupation or too much e-mailing or text-messaging. Those who are truly addicted to computers can experience a loss of a sense of time, withdrawal when away from a computer and negative repercussions in their lives.

Another component of Internet addiction involves a tolerance that builds up over time, pushing the addict to buy better computer equipment, more software or spend more time online, Block said.

Block wrote the editorial to encourage the American Psychiatric Association to include Internet addiction in its upcoming fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, scheduled to be published in 2011.

On The Net:

Read Full Text Of Dr. Block's Editorial