American Medical Association votes to make video game addiction a mental disorder

[skittlebrau]

Later this month, the American Medical Association’s policy-setting body will decide whether to recommend including “Internet/video game addiction” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (a.k.a. DSM), the standard-setting catalog of mental illness.

Article to be clicking, please (http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/06/13/ama-to-vote-on-video-game-addiction/)

Just what we all need: another faux illness to cover doctor's asses should they misdiagnose.

[morbot]

I can quit anytime I want....

I'm gaming as I write this.

[Nebuchanezzar]

internet addiction seems...almost reasonable.

[General Jack D. Ripper]

And they still haven't added never nudes!

[Springfield, Kentucky]

then the government can pay me money each week to fight my addiction of playing games. how awesome!

[Channel Surfer]

Just for those who don't know (don't see it anywhere else).

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3160532

Looks like it's largely been dismissed for now, with claims that there needs to be more research, nothing to suggest that it's anything like alcoholism and other substance abuse, and so on.

[sacrelicious]

I can see the need for more research from a medical standpoint to know how to classify a Video Game Addiction Disorder ($5 bucks says that VGAD becomes the disorder's name down the road somewhere...) but any condition where your body feels it doesn't need to eat or sleep to the point where a person could die is serious enough for the medical world to get involved.

[boogie down mikel]

V-GAD! I'm Sick!

[W.P.]

Here is an article about it on GamePolitics:

http://gamepolitics.com/2007/06/25/ama-wont-make-video-game-addiction-a-diagnosis-yet/

To me, it would make sense to make game-addiction a mental disorder, but that would make other mental disorders that are far more dangerous seem less urgent. You have to set limits to what you think would be considered a serious mental illness, and staying up late at night playing WoW isn't ridiculously dangerous. A problem? Yes, but not a dangerous one.

[Kiyosuki]

Its hard to say because there's good reasoning on both ends of this. I think as the world thrusts more into the digital age and technology continues speeding at this rate its going to become harder and harder to ignore the pretty apparent signs of various kinds of digital addictions.

I think though, that specifically labeling it a mental disease is going too far and generalizing the situation, maybe too much for it to be useful. I think with most video games its just a matter of doing it too much, there's to my knowledge no mental disorder for playing too much Chess. When you think of an addiction, there has to be a certain degree of induced dependency in it. Like MMORPG's in particular I think are undeniably an addiction. With most other games, you can pause them, put them down, spend as much time as you want on them, even if you do it too much its more a matter of self control than anything.

But MMORPGs are vicious. Because of their endless nature, being exposed to all sorts of various peer pressures with real people, and the fact it takes time to do anything on them they can make you feel like you -have- to keep playing with no breaks non-stop even if thats just an illusion. The difference can be summed up with most games just being a passtime you do too much, and MMOs potentially becoming an alternative lifestyle.

So I think maybe looking into certain things in gaming and determining their addictive merit isn't a bad thing, but classifying all of it as a mental disease I think may miss some points.

[jim]

Seems doing anything unhealthy these days classifies as a "mental illness".

[grissom]

Video game addiction makes no sense to me. It's not a chemical thing like it is with cigarettes or alcohol, it's just something people get way too carried away with sometimes. It's not a mental illness.

[DAntae]

hobbies are now addictions

[Kiyosuki]

Video game addiction makes no sense to me. It's not a chemical thing like it is with cigarettes or alcohol, it's just something people get way too carried away with sometimes. It's not a mental illness.

Addiction can be more than something just chemical though, psychological addiction is pretty undeniably real. In fact, most addictions as we know them now are to various degrees part chemical, and part psychological. Alchoholism in particular. Remember that what stimulates the mind has a huge effect on your physical body as well.

But I also don't think most video games really count necessarilly as an addiction as I said up there, barring MMORPG's possibly as I also said. The reason for that is I think what defines an addiction is dependency, whether it'd be chemical or psychological or both. An induced need for something as if its a life necessity because your body gets so overexposed and dependent on something. Alchoholism usually stems from a psychological need for induced escapism and that combined with too much alchohol tricks the body into believing it needs it.

I know this can probably be applied to almost anything, but I think its a matter of degrees and context. Of course too much of anything is bad, but if I jokingly say "I'm addicted to Cashews", its not so much that my body feels like it needs it as I just like them a lot. Maybe you could see that as psychological but its nowhere near the stimulation of something like crack for instance, the difference is pretty clear. I may enjoy running a lap or two in the morning and, and it becomes so routine that you could even jokingly say I'm addicted to running. But its obviously not the same as a clinical addiction. If that were the case then every hobby, routine, or regularity we do in our daily lives could be called a clinical addiction which is just ludicrous. Thats why I don't think the majority of video games really count. (except once again, possibly MMOs)

Much less a mental illness. Hell I'm not even sure about the validity of calling even a valid addiction a mental illness.

[The Space Pope]

I don't think that video games alone should be included as it's own separate illness but rather as a component of some larger addictive disorder. Which the DSM is currently lacking. The same behaviors are manifest in gambling behavior and to a lesser degree psychologically addictive drug use (although I realize there may be some confounding factors there).

The argument made in the first article about obtaining funding for research and assessment is bullshit. There already is a fifth axis of the DSM called a Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)which is used as a catch-all category for pretty much just for insurance billing purposes. It does however get at the crux of the matter which can be applied to the video game matter.

The generally accepted method of assessing dangerousness in the Psychological field is whether or not the condition is severe enough that it interferes with day to day functioning and interpersonal relationships. As the folks at the AMA have already noted. There is clearly not enough hard research on the matter. Most of what is out there is anecdotal at best. By far the best solution would be to make Psychological Addiction as it's own category and use video games as a specifier such just like gambling.

[Tab]

i pissed myself laughing read this.
i wonder what would happen if those Nicotine guys made a product about video game addiction.

From the creators of Nicotine, comes *drum roll* Game-o-Tine.
Put the patch on during your day, and you will feel like your actually playing your favourite video game. Patches only cost $6,235,907 dollars. Get it NOW!

[Kiyosuki]

I don't think that video games alone should be included as it's own separate illness but rather as a component of some larger addictive disorder. Which the DSM is currently lacking. The same behaviors are manifest in gambling behavior and to a lesser degree psychologically addictive drug use (although I realize there may be some confounding factors there).

The argument made in the first article about obtaining funding for research and assessment is bullshit. There already is a fifth axis of the DSM called a Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)which is used as a catch-all category for pretty much just for insurance billing purposes. It does however get at the crux of the matter which can be applied to the video game matter.

The generally accepted method of assessing dangerousness in the Psychological field is whether or not the condition is severe enough that it interferes with day to day functioning and interpersonal relationships. As the folks at the AMA have already noted. There is clearly not enough hard research on the matter. Most of what is out there is anecdotal at best. By far the best solution would be to make Psychological Addiction as it's own category and use video games as a specifier such just like gambling.

Yeah. This particular idea sounds just way too radical, ignoring of specifics, and sounds ripe for misdiagnosis and overgeneralization. Its like saying that drinking in general, not just alchohol but the very act of drinking is a "mental illness". I drink a ton of water so obviously I must have some kind of mental illness right? There are definitely some aspects and particulars of digital entertainment in general, not just video games that have addictive qualities but classifying all of it in the broadest sense as a mental illness comes across to me as an extremely out of touch and vague attempt. Its a mentality that could easilly miss the point.

[The Space Pope]

True enough. But there are plenty instances in the DSM where are general behaviors are narrowed down by subtype. I wouldn't be too concerned with over-diagnosis though. For example Alcoholism is an an official DSM diagnosis but it is rarely addressed from a clinical perspective and it is currently unable to be addressed from a pharmacological perspective.

Personally I find that the only disorders that are over-diagnosed are the ones that have some new wonder drug that is being pushed by the Pharmaceutical companies or expensive therapy that is the pet project of some name dropping Psychologist. Being that this is a psychologically addictive behavior as opposed to a physically dependent behavior, there shouldn't be any drug treatment. I don't think it will be a matter for concern even if it is added to the DSM.

[jim]

Obviously videogame addiction exists (Id say its a similar addiction to a gambling addiction) but to call it a mental illness is ridiculous. People get addicted to watching TV, is that a mental illness?

[The Space Pope]

Depends on what you are watching.