Efficacy of Behaviour Therapy in Internet Addiction

Literature has been receiving many studies on the rise of internet addiction recently. The harmful effects of the Internet Addiction are well documented in Indian youths. Various psychological therapies are being researched and utilised for managing this concern. Hence, present study was planned to see the applicability of Behaviour Therapy for the management of Internet Addiction. In this study ten PG students were selected by using purposive sampling from Institute of Mental Health and Hospital, Agra. Participants were equally divided into two groups (Experimental & Control) and their pre and post assessment has been done by using Young's Internet Addiction Test and a semi structured self-monitoring data sheet was specifically developed to assess the frequency, time and activities of Internet use. The experimental group received 8 sessions of the Behaviour Therapy intervention. The results of present study suggest that the behaviour therapy is significantly (U 0.00, Z 2.61, Sig 0.01) effective for the management of Internet Addiction and it was also revealed that students were spending their maximum time with social chatting sites, watching and downloading videos and browsing other than studies. Conclusion: Behaviour therapy is found significantly effective in managing Internet addiction. The high positive reinforcement of internet use changed into punishment and rapid conditioning with boredom, loneliness, social interaction, stress and free time with Internet deconditioned by using behaviour therapy techniques.