Video Game Addiction: A Medical Disorder?

U

Ubbax

Watchdog
Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
88
Chicago June 22, 2007
Video Game Addiction: A Medical Disorder?
"In a report prepared for the American Medical Association's annual policy meeting starting Saturday in Chicago, the council asks the group to lobby for the disorder to be included in a widely used mental illness manual created and published by the American Psychiatric Association. AMA delegates could vote on the proposal as early as Monday."
Click to expand...

I hate to post and run, essentially not participating in a topic I've started, but unfortunately I'm at the cottage. Having stopped by the local Lodge, where the owner is a friend, I'm borrowing her internet connection under the guise of quickly checking email while waiting for one of her scrumptious meals.
Gads I must be internet addicted...

There are several other interesting links on that page as well.

Thoughts from anybody on this?

Ubbax
"In dialogue, people become observers of their own thinking." -- Peter Senge
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
88
geez... i'm sick!
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
231
This is great news! Ive been looking for something I can go on disability for, yet still wash my truck without being paranoid
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
It's not my fault. I'm just a victim. Boo hoo.
*sigh*
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
13,542
Location
Illinois, USA
Where do I sign up for my government subsidy and free pills?
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
7,834
I am afflicted with the chronic version - is this notifiable ?
transmissible by reading rpgwatch.com ? :mwahaha::help::puke:
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
19,989
Location
Germany
"Reclusive manipulator"?

Reclusive manipulator today, Sith Lord tommorow!!! :mwahaha:


- Said Krzychu, which was kind of disturbing, given the fact that he played KotOR2:TSL for sixteen hours once.
 
Joined
Dec 24, 2006
Messages
485
Location
Milky Way
The current genre of mmogs are bad games but good addictions. One might as well just class them as addictions instead of games. I stay away from crap like that.

Singleplayer games never get to be that addictive, because you always either finish them (like reading a book) or get bored before that happens.
 
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
3,160
Location
Europa Universalis
Can I get on SSI for this? Oh wait, Im already on SSI. Nevermind!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
416
zakhal said:
The current genre of mmogs are bad games but good addictions. One might as well just class them as addictions instead of games. I stay away from crap like that.

Singleplayer games never get to be that addictive, because you always either finish them (like reading a book) or get bored before that happens.
Click to expand...
Im not really addicted. I can stop any time. I just choose not to.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
416
Ammon777 said:
Im not really addicted. I can stop any time. I just choose not to.
Click to expand...

Addiction isnt necesserily a life-bonding. But Im sure youre joking. :)

From dictionary:
"An addiction is a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity."

As an example I recently trialed eve online and that was exactly that happened to me. I thought it was a bad game but still I felt the urge to continue playing for almost two weeks. Only an exam stopped me playing and afterwards I quitted after realising what a piece of crap it was as a game and that the addiction was the only thing that kept me coming back. I dont want to spent days on doing pointless recurring activities on a virtual world.

I can easily put that same on all mmogs Ive played. WW2ol is the only mmog that havent felt like that.
 
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
3,160
Location
Europa Universalis
I can't manage to play MMOGs for longer than a week. Most bore me, except one I played for about a month. Face of Mankind it's called and I played through a period of the beta-testing. WoW really isn't my cup of tea and neither are (almost) any of those MMORPGs. I like to try them out, but then I just find it gets boring to get 500 ears of (different fantasy animals), a la Progress Quest. :)
I however am addicted to staying in front of a monitor for a very long time. If it's TV, DVDs, Movies, Games, News, Encyclopedias,... All in front of a monitor.
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
9,191
Location
Manchester, United Kingdom
This post is ridiculous. Gaming is a hobby. Some games are addictive (I'll admit), but gaming remains a hobby which people choose to do. Its like you would say pumping iron and training everyday (or every second day) is addictive. Its not, its just a hobby that people choose to do because they enjoy it.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
115
Yes, but some people do get addicted to it. If I'm not mistaken, when you enjoy something then your body releases endorphins. These make you relax and feel happy.
Maybe for some people it's not only psychological, but physiological too.
Just a guess though. I have no materials to proof this.

If this is not possible, then people do get addicted psychologically to things, and games might just do that.
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
9,191
Location
Manchester, United Kingdom
Yes, everything that brings pleasure (if what I'm saying is true) (Chocolate, games, movies, sex, sport,...)
Drugs are another kind of addiction as they directly addict the body to them, make the body dependent to them.
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
9,191
Location
Manchester, United Kingdom
Apparently they are backing off of this stuff:

They said more study is needed before excessive use of video and online games -- a problem that affects about 10 percent of players -- could be considered a mental illness.

"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 and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Click to expand...
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
14,951
nameless hero said:
But it goes for anything though.
Click to expand...

Exactly. You can always find someone that's "addicted" to just about any activity you can come up with (stamp collecting, gardening, nose picking, etc). Just part of being human. The only distinction of any use is addictions that involve ingesting something that directly causes a checmical reaction/change in your brain/body versus those that don't.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
850
Location
CA, USA
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom