A leading journal has recommended that those engaging in excessive gaming and emailing practices should receive psychiatric help.

The American Journal of Psychiatry advised that internet addiction should be classed as a mental disorder and added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders.

Author of the article, Dr Jerald J Block, said: "Attempts to measure the phenomenon are clouded by shame, denial and minimisation."

He continued: "Using data from 2006, the South Korean government estimates that approximately 210,000 South Korean children are afflicted and require treatment."

These figures make South Korea the nation where this problem is most severe and the journal says internet addiction is one of the country's most serious mental health disorders.

According to Dr Block the key four symptoms displayed by sufferers are withdrawal and an associated sense of depression or anger when a computer cannot be reached, the constant need for better equipment and the feeling of social isolation without communication technology.

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