Computers are now so much a part of everyday life that it's easy to understand how people could become addicted. "You can't in this day and age ask anyone to not work on the computer," says Orzack. "There are an enormous number of reasons why computers are great and why they offer up opportunities to people."

But there are those who go overboard with computer use -- and with use of online auctions. Kimberly Young, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, and the founder of the Center for Online Addiction, claims that online auction addiction most closely resembles pathological gambling. The auction method satisfies the addict's need for control and provides "immediate gratification." The high of bidding brings the addict back, and the cycle repeats itself. "It's the excitement of winning the prize. People want the rush," Young says.

Young says she receives 12-15 calls a week from addicts looking for information or help, and her center's Web site thoroughly explores all the symptoms and warning signs (compulsively checking e-mail and always anticipating going online, for example) and also offers self-diagnostic tests.

Not yet official

In the mainstream psychological community, Internet addiction, or its subset, online auction addiction, is not yet recognized by the field's authoritative handbook, the "DSM-IV" ("Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"). "How is it [online use] different from television or radio?" asks Dr. Clark Sugg, a psychiatrist at the William Alanson White Institute, a psychoanalytic institute in Manhattan. The Net may be very compelling but "I haven't had a lot of patients coming to the institute claiming they're addicted."

Sugg suggests that cyber-psychologists like Young may be trying to carve out a niche for themselves. "It's a way of making a name for yourself in a field that's overpopulated," he says.

For now, Young appears to be the only psychologist specifically offering Internet addicts online help, either through private chat rooms or e-mail. Others, like Orzack, insist that the treatment of online addiction take place off-line, in a traditional, face-to-face therapy setting. As Orzack puts it, "I'm licensed in Massachusetts, not cyberspace."

next: Are You a Compulsive Online Gambler?