Withdrawal from caffeine addiction may be called a mental disorder

• Researchers are saying that caffeine withdrawal should now be classified as a psychiatric disorder.
• A new study that analyzes some 170 years' worth of research concludes that caffeine withdrawal is very real -- producing enough physical symptoms and a disruption in daily life to classify it as a psychiatric disorder.
• Researchers are suggesting that caffeine withdrawal should be included in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), considered the bible of mental disorders.
• "I don't think this means anyone should be worried," says study researcher Roland Griffiths, PhD, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
• "What it means is that the phenomenon of caffeine withdrawal is real and that when people don't get their usual dose, they can suffer a range of withdrawal symptoms."
• His research, published in the October issue of Psychopharmacology, analyzes 66 previous studies on the effects of caffeine withdrawal.
• Flu-like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, and stiffness.
• "Onset of these symptoms typically occurs within 12 to 24 hours of stopping caffeine and peaks one to two days after stopping," Griffiths tells WebMD.
• "The duration is between two and nine days."
• A new revelation in Griffith's analysis may be what upgrades caffeine withdrawal from its current "more study is needed" status to "disorder" status: These withdrawal symptoms are severe enough in about one in eight people to interfere with their ability to function on a day-to-day basis.
• "The withdrawal symptoms can be mild or severe, but it's estimated that 13% of people develop symptoms so significant that they can't do what they normally would do -- they can't work, they can't leave the house, they can't function," he says.