Chapter 12 – Cyberpsychology and Psychopathology

Chapter Summary

What Is Psychopathology?

  • Psychopathology is a difficult concept to define.  Many definitions elude to ‘the four D’s’ – comprising of deviance, destress, dysfunction, and danger.
  • The study of mental health embraces a broad field of psychological problems that can occur in people’s lives. These problems include stress, anxiety, addiction, and mood disorders.

DSM-5 and How It Views the Internet

  • The Diagnostic Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric
    • … read more

  • Chapter 12 – Useful Websites

    The CyberPsychology, Behavior and Social Networking (Mary Ann Libert, Inc.) is a monthly peer-reviewed journal that focuses on many aspects of online behaviour.

    Dr. Kimberly Young is an expert on Internet addiction. Her website – Net Addiction hosts a number of interesting papers and suggested readings.  The Home page has a link to her TED Talk – ‘A Growing Epidemic’.

    Dr. Mark Griffiths is the director of the International Gaming Research Unit in Nottingham Trent University and has published widely in the area of behavioural addiction. You can read his articles on The Conversation here:

    Dr. Amy Orben’s list of publications includes research into social media, technology panics, social media and teenagers, and psychological well-being amongst others.

  • Chapter 12 – Further Reading

    The following book specifically focuses on real world application of human behaviour in relation to the use of the Internet. Specifically, Chapter 6 explores the term Internet Addiction from a clinical aspect.

    • Attrill, A. and Fullwood, C. (Ed.). (2016). Applied Cyberpsychology: Practical Applications of Cyberpsychological Theory and Research. Palgrave MacMillan.

    Understanding psychological theory in relation to online behaviour is core to cyberpsychology. In this book, areas such as technology interaction and interactivity, health, gaming, and cybercrime are addressed.

    • Attrill-Smith, A., Fullwood, C., Keep, M., and Kuss, D. J. (Eds.). (2018). The Oxford handbook of cyberpsychology. Oxford University Press.

    Technology itself, is neither positive nor negative, how we use technology defines its positive and negative effects on areas such as well-being. Linda Kaye explores areas of screentime, gaming, the effects of technology, and gaming among other areas.

    • Kaye, L. K. (2022). Issues and Debates in Cyberpsychology. McGraw Hill.

    In this article, Coyle, McGlade, Doherty and O’Reilly (2011) explore the first adolescent therapeutic intervention to fully integrate a computer game into Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

    • Coyle, D., McGlade, N., Doherty, G., and O’Reilly, G. (2011). Exploratory evaluations of a computer game supporting cognitive behavioural therapy for adolescents. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2937–2946). ACM.
    • http://www.davidcoyle.org/docs/Coyle%20et%20al%20CHI2011.pdf

    The following two chapters from the book Cyberpsychology give an outline of the areas involved in online addiction and online counselling. Attrill, A. (Ed.). (2015). Cyberpsychology. Oxford University Press.

    • Chapters 11: The Psychology of Online Addictive Behaviour – Mark D. Griffiths
    • Chapter 13:  Online Therapies and Counselling – Melanie Nguyen

    The three chapters from The Oxford Handbook of Cyberpsychology. Oxford University Press by Attrill-Smith, A., Fullwood, C., Keep, M., & Kuss, D. J. (Eds.). (2019) may be of interest.

    • Chapter 23: A psychological overview of Gaming Disorder – Daria J. Kuss, Halley Pontes, Orsolya Kiraly and Zsolt Demetrovics
    • Chapter 25: The therapeutic and health benefits of playing video games – Mark Griffiths
    • Chapter 28:  The psychosocial effects of gaming. Michelle Colder Carras, Rachel Kowert and Thornsten Quandt.

  • Chapter 12 – Audio and Video links

    In her research, Amy Orben addresses concerns about screen-time and social media use on adolescent psychological well-being and mental health whilst considering the limitations of research and the moral panic that surrounds some media usage.

    Pesky gNATs is a website developed by Handaxe CIC. This is a not-for-profit community and was founded by Dr. David Coyle and Dr. Gary O’Reilly.  The Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) computer game is aimed at young people who are suffering from mental health issues.  This brief video gives an overview of how CBT can be applied in a therapeutic setting, which is engaging for young people and stigma-free.

    The COVID Generation is considered in this webinar available from the London School of Economics (LSE) facilitated by Professor Sonia Livingstone. Digital reliance increased over the course of the pandemic, the panel discusses how children’s lives became digital practically overnight and considers how children could be served better in our current digital world.

  • Chapter 12 – Essay questions

    1. Outline how the Internet can support people with poor mental health.
    2. Discuss how online-gaming can be considered addictive.
    3. Social Networking is a way of life for many people today.  Compare and contrast the positive and negative aspects of Social Networking on mental health.
    4. Does Internet addiction really exist?
    5. Evaluate how the Internet can act as a support to people with poor mental health.

Chapter 12 – Quiz

  1. Question 1 of 10
    1. Question

    What is psychopathology?

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