Study: Videogame Addiction Leads to Depression

Apr 16, 2009
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Not G. Ivingname said:
Greg Tito said:
What the study fails to test if the depression is the cause of the video game playing.

The study didn't indicate if say the children in question are be socially rejected (and are now depressed) and have turned to their hobby to escape the real world.

It would be like seeing that the teenagers that are not in school drink the most coffee, then concluding that coffee kills braincells and makes kids go out of school. What is equally likely that is happening is that teenagers that dropped out just have the time to drink more coffee.
Except the study isn't determining whether or not videogame addiction leads to depression at all. They studied the effects of intense video gaming on children and observed what happened in relation to depression. The title of the escapist article is a little misleading, but the scientific article is actually quite sound. They showed that the kids who did have social phobias and were depressed and then turned to video games became even MORE depressed and socially awkward, and that when they quit their depression became less intense.
 

Vrud

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Mar 11, 2009
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Sitting in one place for extended periods of time is going to decrease dopamine production, period.
 

Woodsey

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Numb1lp said:
Woodsey said:
I'm pretty sure that "game addiction" isn't even officially recognised as an actual addiction.
I'd have to disagree. I do know people who put video games in front of other important things when prioritizing.

And I'm sure it does cause depression, but I try to counteract it with physical activity, and it seems to be working decently for me.
"Officially recognised".

There's some sort of body that acknowledges these sorts of things. I mean, I'm sure you can be pretty much addicted to anything, but it obviously has to jump through some loop holes before people take you seriously on the matter.

I don't think prioritizing a hobby makes it an addiction either. If someone skipped work to go fishing, is that an addiction to fishing?
 

MiracleOfSound

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Jan 3, 2009
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SomethingAmazing said:
I am not the dumb one for seeing through common lies that doctors tell.

Maybe you ought to read up on something called the "placebo effect" before speaking again. Tell them that there is a chemical imbalance, give them a bunch of sugar pills, charge 60 bucks for it and profit.
Douchebag doctors misdiagnosing people does not change the fact that actual depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain.
 

Numb1lp

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Woodsey said:
Numb1lp said:
Woodsey said:
I'm pretty sure that "game addiction" isn't even officially recognised as an actual addiction.
I'd have to disagree. I do know people who put video games in front of other important things when prioritizing.

And I'm sure it does cause depression, but I try to counteract it with physical activity, and it seems to be working decently for me.
"Officially recognised".

There's some sort of body that acknowledges these sorts of things. I mean, I'm sure you can be pretty much addicted to anything, but it obviously has to jump through some loop holes before people take you seriously on the matter.

I don't think prioritizing a hobby makes it an addiction either. If someone skipped work to go fishing, is that an addiction to fishing?
No, but if it constantly happens on a regular basis, and affects their life, maybe. I'm sorry, I should have worded myself better.
 

TheXRatedDodo

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MiracleOfSound said:
SomethingAmazing said:
Except for the fact that it, you know, doesn't.

If people are depressed it is their own fault.
Not really, it's the chemical imbalance's fault.
Back during my depression, I got told it was a chemical imbalance. I called bullshit, got put on medication.
Fast forward 8 months (after 3 years of depression that nearly finished me off) and I beat it without my medication or the help of any other chemicals, but by sitting under a tree on a hill and being content to live in the moment.

Chemical imbalance my ass. What a horrible thing to tell someone.
 

Woodsey

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Numb1lp said:
Woodsey said:
Numb1lp said:
Woodsey said:
I'm pretty sure that "game addiction" isn't even officially recognised as an actual addiction.
I'd have to disagree. I do know people who put video games in front of other important things when prioritizing.

And I'm sure it does cause depression, but I try to counteract it with physical activity, and it seems to be working decently for me.
"Officially recognised".

There's some sort of body that acknowledges these sorts of things. I mean, I'm sure you can be pretty much addicted to anything, but it obviously has to jump through some loop holes before people take you seriously on the matter.

I don't think prioritizing a hobby makes it an addiction either. If someone skipped work to go fishing, is that an addiction to fishing?
No, but if it constantly happens on a regular basis, and affects their life, maybe. I'm sorry, I should have worded myself better.
I get what you're saying, but I sometimes wonder if this whole things is just because it's games.
 

Turtleboy1017

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Nov 16, 2008
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In all honesty, I find this study to have at least some merit, even if it isn't completely and 100 percent accurate.

I've suffered from what I believe is mild depression, nothing along the lines of suicide or crying constantly, but definitely moderate. I found that these bouts tended to flare up when I was in the process of playing games more than I did anything else.

I would rather stay at home and game than go out with friends, and my schoolwork and social life suffered because of the amount of time I spent in my dreamland, my most recent place being the Mass Effect 2 universe.

When I didn't have a game to play all the time, I felt less inclined to stay at home, and lived a more balanced life.

So I don't believe excessive gaming can directly lead to depression, but it can certainly be a contributing factor, or at the very least a sign that a child may already be depressed.
 

Numb1lp

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Woodsey said:
Numb1lp said:
Woodsey said:
Numb1lp said:
Woodsey said:
I'm pretty sure that "game addiction" isn't even officially recognised as an actual addiction.
I'd have to disagree. I do know people who put video games in front of other important things when prioritizing.

And I'm sure it does cause depression, but I try to counteract it with physical activity, and it seems to be working decently for me.
"Officially recognised".

There's some sort of body that acknowledges these sorts of things. I mean, I'm sure you can be pretty much addicted to anything, but it obviously has to jump through some loop holes before people take you seriously on the matter.

I don't think prioritizing a hobby makes it an addiction either. If someone skipped work to go fishing, is that an addiction to fishing?
No, but if it constantly happens on a regular basis, and affects their life, maybe. I'm sorry, I should have worded myself better.
Now you bring up another interesting point. Do some people label others as "addicted" just because they want to use it as another weapon against the industry? I suppose there is a very fine line between addicted and passionate, but who decides what that is?

I get what you're saying, but I sometimes wonder if this whole things is just because it's games.
 

ckam

Make America Great For Who?
Oct 8, 2008
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Perhaps they were playing terrible games is the reason why they're depressed.

Sometimes, I get depressed when I read books like Twilight or 101 Wacky Computer Jokes. But that's just my two cents.

On another note, Singapore is kind of different, culturally, than America or any other western country for that matter.
 

MiracleOfSound

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Jan 3, 2009
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TheXRatedDodo said:
Back during my depression, I got told it was a chemical imbalance. I called bullshit, got put on medication.
Fast forward 8 months (after 3 years of depression that nearly finished me off) and I beat it without my medication or the help of any other chemicals, but by sitting under a tree on a hill and being content to live in the moment.

Chemical imbalance my ass. What a horrible thing to tell someone.
Our brains run on chemicals. Every emotion we feel is the result of chemical and electrical activity in our brain.

Feel happy dancing to your favorite song? Serotonin.

Feel awesome after having sex or a fast jog? Endorphins.

Feel tired and low after missing sleep or stressing out? Lack of Serotonin.

When you feel low and depressed it is because the chemicals in your brain are not balanced right, for whatever reason.

Is medication the answer? No. Only in very extreme cases. [EDIT: In fact, I've seen friends get far worse on meds]

Sitting under the tree and relaxing obviously increased certain chemicals in your brain, making you feel better and restoring the balance in your brain.

{EDIT: And yes, I'm sure there were many other factors too, don't take that as literal - I'm not arrogant enough to assume I know anything about your particular experience)
 

Sgt Doom

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But what wasn't clear was what comes before what. Gaming might be a secondary problem. It might be that kids who are socially awkward, who aren't doing well in school, get depressed and then lose themselves into games.
/thread
 

MiracleOfSound

Fight like a Krogan
Jan 3, 2009
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SomethingAmazing said:
Simply put, depression is a made up disease to make people feel special or important because their failure is a result of "condition" when in reality, they just suck at life, the universe and everything. At least currently. The way to cure that? Stop sucking! Fix your goddamn problems. And suddenly you don't have depression after your problems are fixed. Hmmmmm, suspicious isn't it?
Read post 75.

I'm not advocating meds at all.

I'm saying that real depression is a chemical imbalance but (usually) can be cured in a number of ways. In otherwords, we're in agreement apart for the semantics.
 

TheXRatedDodo

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I seem to be the only person on this forum who doesn't place all of his faith in Science.

Yeah, SCIENTIFICALLY, it may be a chemical imbalance, but we are human beings, we are MORE than a series of chemical reactions, we are more than the sum of our parts. Regurgitate scientific facts all you like, but that isn't going to help someone get over a depression.


Edit: Just re-read that, and I realised this post my have come off as being slightly agressive in tone, apolagies if it was taken as such because it was not meant to read that way. :)
 

_Janny_

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Nurb said:
I so love this quote. I should print it out and stick it on a wall.

Games make me happy and that's pretty much all I care about. I tend not to take these studies too seriously because it's hard to make a proper study of the game addiction simply because there are too many variables involved and everyone's mental state is different.
 

DarkSpectre

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I would simple conclude that since games are rather sedentary large amount of time spent on them will cause a drop in physical activity which is counter to depression. So yes playing too much video games could make you more depressed, so would watching too much tv, so would reading too many books or really doing anything that doesn't require a lot of movement. Everything in moderation. That is why it is called too much of something. Play games for a few hours and then go do forty push ups and I'll bet the increase in depression will go away. Gaming is not the problem lack of exercise is. I am pretty sure gaming has an answer to this already. Sony even called theirs the Move.
 

jack583

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you have a problem you can't solve
it bothers you to the point of depression
you find something enjoyable to prolong the depression until the problem can be solved.
but it does not cure and if you can't solve the problem you will begin to fear what caused the problem.
you will go with your escape method in order to hide from the problem.
now you have an addiction.

it's the same cause for every addiction
but the escape can be differnt:
foods
drinks
drugs
social activities
money
sports
tv shows
and games

many escapes/distractions, but they do not cause depression.
they are the clueless passer-bys that got to close to a crime scene at the time of the crime and was mistaken as the criminal.
 

TheAceTheOne

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Jul 27, 2010
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Videogame addiction? Crap. Everyone, band together... we need VGA. Uh... That's "Video Gamer's Anonymous" in case that wasn't clear.

But seriously, my family's been trying to convince me I'm addicted. Just like they're addicted to TV, junk food, Bejewled (hypocrites), and other assorted things. Everyone's addicted to something. Everyone has a vice, whether it's cigarettes, gambling, street racing, adrenaline rushes, video games, TV... I could fill a thread myself by listing examples, I'm sure.