**1. Introduction**

Internet use has become increasingly popular among the population all over the world. The prevalence of Internet use has increased rapidly, with the current estimated world's number of Internet users in June 2017 is more than 3.8 billion [1]. According to statistics, Asia is considered as one of the most high Internet societies in the world (49.7%) [1]. This widespread

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

leads to the problem of Internet addiction especially among teenagers. Of course, the problem of Internet addiction (IA) has become more widespread and considered as a social and public health problem. It is known that adolescents and young adults are the high-risk groups and more vulnerable for Internet addiction [2]. Both groups especially adolescents suffer from emotional and social stress, in addition to lack of behavioral control due to incomplete psychological maturity, which motivate them to engage in risk-related factors such as Internet addiction [3].

It was also defined as "a psychological dependence on the Internet, despite the purpose once logged on" [12]. In his second definition that based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) pathological gambling diagnosis criteria to Internet use, Young [13] defined Internet addiction as an impulse-control disorder and made a definition that consists of eight criteria and requires the fulfillment of five out of eight for the identification of an individual to be addicted. This criteria are (1) excessive mental effort with the Internet, (2) the need for longer time online, (3) repeated attempts to decrease Internet use, (4) withdrawal symptoms when decreasing Internet use, (5) issues in time management, (6) environmental distress (family, friends, school, and work), (7) lying about time spent online, and (8) mood modification through Internet use. Goldberg [14] defined Internet addiction on the basis of the DSM-IV substance addiction criteria as a behavioral addiction functions as a coping

Internet Addiction and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71277 185

Later on, Block [15] defined it as "compulsive behaviors related to any online activities that influence normal activity daily living and lead to stress on social and family relationships, lying, poor achievement, and fatigue". Other researchers conceptualized it as "an impulse

There are many studies focused on studying the prevalence of Internet addiction among adolescents and others focused on adults. The adolescents are considered as a high-risk group for the behavior of Internet addiction. They undergo many developmental changes and stressful events, which result in using Internet that is considered a rich and attractive environment to reduce these stressors [18]. There are many studies concerned to determine the prevalence of this problem among this target group. The prevalence of Internet addiction varies widely. It is documented that the recent prevalence in different countries ranges from 4.0 to 25.3% among school students [19–22]. In USA, the rate was reported between 0 and 26.3% [23] and 0.8 and 13.5% in the European Union [11, 24, 25]. In Asia regions, the prevalence of Internet addiction is reported between 2 and 25.3% [20, 21, 26]. In Middle Eastern, the prevalence was between 1 and 28.4% [19, 22, 27, 28], and the high prevalence was among Turkish students

Moreover, many studies regarding Internet addiction were conducted among adults in various countries [30–39]. The prevalence rates in studies have used Young's Internet Addiction Test ranged from 1.2% in the UK [24] to 40% of the Jordanian university students [26]. On the contrary, the prevalence of Internet addiction by using Chen's Internet Addiction Scale reported 12.3% [36] to 17.9% [33] among Taiwanese adults. However, the prevalence rates of Internet addiction by using the Internet Addiction Diagnostic Questionnaire [13] demonstrated 1.0% among Norwegian adults [31] while 22.8% among

From the results, there are differences in prevalence of Internet addiction, which may be related to differences in the definition of possible and serious addiction, using various instru-

control disorder where individuals loss ability to control Internet use" [16, 17].

mechanism.

**2.2. Prevalence of Internet addiction**

(11.6–28.4%) [28, 29].

Iranian Internet users [35].

ments in the evaluation and sociocultural factors.

Yet after the 20 years on evolving the concept of Internet addiction and despite the growth, the popularity, and the increasing prevalence of Internet addiction, there is still no clear definition of this concept. However, it is under investigation and to be included in the classification in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) [4].

A number of literature have been written, which identified many risk factors for Internet addiction and several negative consequences resulting from this problem. Such risk factors include socio-demographic, social, psychological and mental factors, and Internet use practices. It produces physical, social, and psychological problems, in addition to academic performance and career difficulties [5, 6]. Therefore, this problem needs immediate action and treatment. Thus, there are different ways to treat Internet addiction; however, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been proposed as an effective treatment. There is a specialized type or model to treat this disorder called cognitive behavioral therapy for Internet addiction (CBT-IA).

This chapter presents the data associated with the prevalence of Internet addiction and the risk factors to gather a sense of the scope of the problem. The chapter also provides the cognitive behavioral therapy model for treatment of Internet addiction. This chapter could help in developing two perspectives, the academic and the mental health. From the academic perspective, this chapter helps to identify future areas of research, as new studies in the field continue to emerge. From the mental health perspective, the chapter assists clinicians in developing more empirically sound methods to assess and potentially treat Internet-addicted clients by applying CBT-IA.
