Phantom Vibration Syndrome: An Emerging Phenomenon

 

Mr. Shatrughan Pareek*

Nursing Brother, N.R. Divisional Hospital, Delhi

 

ABSTRACT:

Mobile phones are innovation of new era’s technology. Around 5 billion people are using mobile phone worldwide. Mobile phone is an essential part of urban life. People spent more time of cell phones and it is affecting their physical and mental health. People are using vibration alert mode in silence zone and its frequent use lead towards phantom vibration syndrome (PVS). In 2003, Mr. Robert D. Jones described the term Phantom vibration syndrome. Phantom vibration syndrome is an emerging disorder due to excessive use of mobile phones. People perceive that their cell phone is vibrating but in reality it not. PVS is concern with psychological or neurological changes.  Prevalence of Phantom vibration syndrome is more than 70% among the medical students. This tactile hallucination causes by repeated use of cell phone, vibration alert mode and using same location for carrying mobile phone. PVS may lead toward anxiety, depression and affective disorders. Phantom vibration syndrome can manage by changing habits towards utilization and carrying of cell phone. Burnout syndrome may occur in people if phantom vibration syndrome not treated properly. More studies are needed to explore the etiology of PVS and its possible management. Mobile phone users are increasing drastically so in the future more cases of PVS may be reported.

 

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION:

Mobile phones bring new revolution in the field of communication.  In today’s life style, mobile phones are commonly use for interactions and leisure time.  A mobile phone is a portable instrument that can make and receive calls. The first mobile phone was made by Motorola in 1973 (1).  At world level, mobile phones users are increasing drastically. The figure of mobile phone users at global level had cross 5 billion by middle of this year. Nearly 66% of the global population is using mobile phone (2). In India, at present 1.16 billion people are using Mobile phones (3). Undoubtedly mobile phones are an essential part of day to day life in present scenario. Mobile phone has lots of charismatic features which impart the global information in fraction.

 

Mobile phone has lots of positive things for human beings but there are some negative impacts of it on life style. People generally use ringing and vibration mode for call and messages alerts. Mobile phone ringing is prohibited in mostly offices and areas now a day’s so generally people use vibration mode for alerts. Phantom vibration syndrome (PVS) is also a part of mobile phone induced disorder. In 2003, Mr. Robert D. Jones described the term Phantom vibration syndrome. As per Mr. Robert, PVS is a psychological phenomenon (4). PVS refers to when a mobile phone user perceives that mobile phone is vibrating when in reality it was not.  According to Dr. Rothberg, PVS is not a syndrome. It is a tactile hallucination; in which brain perceive a stimulation that is not actually present (5). PVS is a common phenomenon at global level. PVS is an emerging disorder due to over use of mobile phones. It is associated with psychological diseases (6).

 

 

Prevalence of Phantom vibration syndrome:

PVS is a disorder of emerging technology. There were lots of studies conducted to assess the prevalence of PVS. In 2010, Rothberg et al conducted a study on PVS among medical staff. Nearly 70% people experience PVS during activity of daily living. PVS was common among mobile phone and Pagers uses (5). During 2013, Michelle Duouin et al conducted a study among 290 undergraduate students. The study revealed that, PVS was experienced by the 89% respondents (7).  Lin YH et al( 2013), reported that 78% subjects had perceived Phantom vibration syndrome (8).  In 2017, Abolfazal MB et al noted that prevalence of PVS among medical students was 54.3% and it was higher in male students comparing to female students (9). There are lots of other studies are available which found higher prevalence rate of Phantom vibration syndrome around the world.

 

Sign and Symptoms of Phantom vibration syndrome:

1.      Psychological stress

2.      Anxiety

3.      Hallucinations

4.      Depression

5.      Attention deficit

6.      Over vigilance

7.      Emotional disturbance

 

Causes of Phantom vibration syndrome:

1.      Frequently use of cell phone

2.      Vibration mode of cell phone

3.      Cell phone dependency

4.      Post traumatic disorder

5.      Emotional attachment for gadgets

6.      Stress

7.      Keeping cell phone in same pocket for long duration

 

Management of Phantom vibration syndrome:

Phantom vibration syndrome has high prevalence rate and it is emerging with time so the managing PVS in early stage is very important.

a)      Time bounded use of cell phone

b)     Decrease the possible dependency of cell phone

c)      Frequently change the alert modes like vibration to ringing

d)     Life style modifications

e)      Counseling and guidance regarding hallucinations and affective aspects

f)       Use different devices

g)      Carrying cell phone in different pockets or positions.

h)     Avoid the vibration mode of cell phone

 

Complications Phantom vibration syndrome:

1.      Burnout syndrome

2.      Psychological affective disorders

3.      Depressive psychosis

4.      Pathological stress

 

7CONCLUSION:

Mobile phones are vital part of today’s lifestyle and its users are increasing day by day. It is useful in conversations, exchange of ideas, and utilization of leisure time. Mobile phones have not only positive aspects but also negative effects on human being.  Mostly people use vibration alert mode in their cell phones. The frequent use and dependency on cell phone lead towards PVS. People are affected with PVS at global level and its prevalence rate is too high. PVS is a tactile hallucination which occurs due to psychological or neurological damage. It is an emerging phenomenon, so we can minimize the PVS with small alterations in our life style. Persistent PVS may lead to burnout syndrome (10).  More research studies are needed to explore the existing causes and management of PVS.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

There was no conflict of interest.

 

FUNDING SOURCE:

Study was self financed by the researcher.

 

REFERENCES:

1.     Heeks and Richard. Meet Marty Cooper- the inventor of the mobile phone. Computer .2008;41(6):26-33

2.     Mobile world congress 2017, Barcelona, February 2017

3.     Indian Express. Number of Indian mobile users rises by 13.75 million to 1.16 billion in February: Trai.30^th April 2017.

4.     Phantom vibration syndrome. Wikipedia

5.     Rothberg MB, Arora A, Hermann J, Kleppel R, St Marie P, Visintainer P. Phantom vibration syndrome among medical staff: a cross sectional survey. British Journal of Medicine. 2010; 341: c6914.

6.     Robert Rosenberger. An experimental account of phantom vibration syndrome. Computers in Human Behaviour. 2015;52:124-131.

7.     MichelleDrouin and Daren H. Kaiser. Phantom vibrations among undergraduates: Prevalence and associated psychological characteristics. Computers in Human Behaviours.2012;28(4):1490-96

8.     Lin YH, Chen CY, Li P, Lin SH. A dimensional approach to the phantom vibration and ringing syndrome during medical internship. Journal of Psychiatry Research. 2013;47:1254–1258.

9.     Abolfazal MB, Narges MS, Esmail Moshiri, Zohreh Anbari, Ali Ahmadi and Hossain Ansari. The prevalence of phantom vibration/ringing syndromes and their related factors in Iranian students of Medical sciences. Asian journal of Psychiatry.2017;27: 76-80.

10.   Chao-Pen Chen ,Chi-Cheng Wu, Li-Ren Chang and Yu-Hsuan Lin. Possible association between phantom vibration syndrome and occupational burnout. Neuropsychiatry Disease and Treatment. 2014; 10: 2307-2314.

 

 

 

Accepted on 03.10.2017                © A&V Publications all right reserved