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Video game addiction not a disorder
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 25th June 2007
Video game addiction, while not a mental disorder, can still wreck lives if not noticed in time.
Still, it may come as a relief that according to a panel of 'Addiction Experts' who recently met in Chicago, video game addiction is actually not a mental disorder.
The experts were strongly opposed the idea that video game addiction was a mental disorder, and attributed it to being on the same level as alcoholism and gambling addiction at the American Medical Association's annual meeting.
Game addiction is estimated to affect about ten percent of game players and has reportedly led to deaths in some cases when MMO players have refused to leave their terminals.
"There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine to Reuters yesterday.
If video game addiction were classed as a mental disorder then it would have massive affects for the insurance business, especially where gamers are concerned. The proposal that video game addiction be classified as a mental disease has since been dropped however, with experts citing further investigation is needed.
Speaking from personal experience, we are well aware of how video game addiction can affect people and damage lives, though most people can overcome gaming addiction with the support of friends and family, sometimes further intervention is required.
Have you ever suffered from gaming addiction, or known anyone who has? Are games a harmless hobby, or does everything have an element of risk? Drag yourself away from that CounterStrike Tournament and get on down to the forums to let us know your thoughts.
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Comments (23)
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H.B.
ed: Gambling is not cited in the reuters article ... so how did it get into the bt article? http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2425415820070624?pageNumber=1
... Personally I've always put it on the same level as Gambling Addiction, though I don't know anyone who's life has been criticially ruined by it.
-btb-
When you mix both Gaming and Drinking then it becomes Fun!
To put games addiction (even adding addiction is to much) in the row of other addictions like, alcohol, smoking, drugs and gambling is outrageous.
Gaming is not even an tiny risk (or any at all) compared what alcohol, smoking and drugs can do to your body, neither can it and may be associated with gambling. Unless you buy a game every hour I guess.
Gaming is the second healthy thing to sports. Infact! its even more healthier then sports. Because of the many sport-injuries people can get. I never heart of a broken vinger because of a frantic play of cs. Do you? The only things that get hurt are most of the time keyboards or mouses. (this can acure when someone looses)
Its also a save sport to watch or attend. There are no brainless idiotic hooligans that want to throw bricks at you because you are a supporter of CLAN X.
I play games since pong in 1978. Spent lots of time in the locale arcades. And as a 36 year old i still play games for relaxation from work. Its a real stress releaver. I have played 5 year TFC and 3 years CS and numerous other online war oriented games. I have no guns in my house. I still dont want to kill my neigboors or want to kill people in the shoppingmal or run into a school to simulate quake. I am healthy and have a happy social live besides gaming.
With the long 30 years of gaming history i have, i can honestly say that i dont have any urge / need / must / to play games. Or doing desparete things to even play a game. Unless you find "waiting for the release of a new game" addicted.
What more proof do they want that games is not addicted or turning people into sociopaths. I have 30 years of proof to proof them wrong...
Cant it?? What about those wow players that died because they were too into the game to get away and rest from it and eat and go to the toilet properly. What about those that call in sick and not got to work because they jsut cant put that game down and then get the sack and loose their house.
I reckon it can be an addiction. I found im addicted to my 360, since getting it ive not wanted to do anything else but to get all those darn achievment points, im finishing work early so I can get my games finished. :) as some point im going to have to do some work as im like 34 hours down on my flexi :p
With 26 years of not having the urge/need/must to drink alcohol or do desperat things to get a drink. Im proof then to prove there is no such thing as drink addiction. Same goes for fags and gambling and drugs.
It seems crazy, but some people do get a fix out of it and I can testify to how much it can ruin lives if it gets out of control.
But, is that really down to the game or that the brain of the person had a disorder/reliance on a particular neurotransmitter?
I would have thought that game playing could give the same feel-good, or relaxing state that similar other activities might produce, like playing cards, chess, puzzles for the mental stimulation, or rock climbing, running, race car driving for that adrenaline rush.
Because one loves the *feelings* those activities evoke, doesnt mean those activities themselves are addictive -- only their effects on the brain.
Its not like there's a "video game" playing portion of the brain, sitting next to the "gambling portion" and the "race car driving" portion. It just happens that those activities might all produce an effect in someone that their brain drinks up. And conversely, nothing at all in someone else.
I think an argument that video-games are addictive is only going to push them more and more into a heavily targetted realm of attack and blame for more and more issues that really come down to good parenting (at least when it comes to the under 18s).
I'm no Shaguar, that's for sure. :P (+1 Grades!) There was a period of a good solid 3 months in a 2 year span that really emphasized my lack of caring for anything except getting my aim better and playing smarter. Kind of an oxymoron in a figurative sense, no?
Sam
I think that there are people with a predisposition to addiction. When he finds the right stimulus the person is hooked, and he'll sacrifice whatever it takes to fulfill that need, be it gambling, drinking, or gaming. He seeks the next euphoria. Video games may be a perfect fit in that puzzle, because they can offer a variety of releases to fulfill your needs. Killing things, completing puzzles, solcializing; you name it and there's a game to provide it. Combine it with the anonymity of the internet and you get the perfect form of escapism.
As I understand it, one of the methods for treating alcohol or drug addiction is to replace the addiction with something healthier, like gardening or exercise. After that, the person learns to enjoy the activity in moderation.
I suppose we'll see a warning label on all games from now on: "Warning: the Surgeon General reports the playing games may be hazardous to you health. Do not kill aliens while pregnant, nursing, or operating heavy machinery."
-monkey
The arguement here isn't about whether games themselves are addictive or not, they clearly do give fun and joy that some people respond or over-respond to. The issue is; is that 'addiction' to those feelings a condition that some people are mentally pre-disposed towards more than other activities and can such addiction be called a disorder.
GO! DISCUSS! ;)
on the 1 hand you say its as bad as alcoholism, and then you contradict yourself, whats going on bit :S
Personally, i think its possible for people to become addicted to games as much as it is to alcohol, tobacco, chocolate, etc
Its mainly the mental component, that are present in all the above that is the problem, and there is no doubting you can become addicted to anything, in your mind
I know probably my (ex) best friend is a video game addict, he started to play wow, and now he cant get off it, since the original beta
He dropped half his subjects to play it, and has a crappy job to pay for the Internet and his subscription, he failed half his exams too because all he does is play it
If that isn't an addiction, i don't know what is
Excitement increases endorphins levels.
Endorphins are addictive.
People with a 'Gaming Addiction' use games to get their endorphins high.
A Gaming mental disorder would be where the person cannot tell the Game from reality, but a disorder like this probably is already a type of mental disorder, just with a different initiator.