Study: Videogame Addiction Leads to Depression

[Assassin Xaero]

My (what might be considered by some people a) game addiction has nothing to do with my depression.

 

[imperialreign]

I look at it like this . . .

. . . right now, gaming is one of the biggest scapegoats "professionals" have in regards to child behaviour. Your child has ADD/ADHD,? they probably spend too much time playing games. Your child has violent tendancies and outbursts,? they're probably playing too many violent video games. Your child exhibits symptoms of depression,? too much time playing video games.

etc., ad naseum . . .

The thing is - professionals need something a little more definitive to pin these "conditions" on, and gaming just happens to be a prime target. Parents, on the other hand, don't really want to delve deeper into the emotional causes behind their child's "condition," instead they're happy with a label and medication.

I'm not saying that there are some children out there who have legitimate conditions, simply that too many children are being labeled and treated with medication instead of psychiatrists actually doing their job to get to the bottom of what's causing the child to act in a certain way. Perhaps there's a bully at the school that the child doesn't know how to express to an adult about . . . or maybe the child's parents are seperating/seperated and doesn't know how to express thei feelings over it. Maybe the child simply doesn't recieve enough parental attention. There's usually some kind of catalyst that starts the child progressing towards their current behaviour, but no one is willing to take the time (or the responsibility) to get down to the bottom of things.

Instead, we keep seeing more and more tripe "studies" like this that only serve to get lawmakers all worked up, and continue to cast a further negative view of gaming as a past-time or hobby. Before we know it, these professionals are going to somehow link gaming to global warming, destruction of the rain forests and poverty in 3rd-world nations . . . and lawmakers will start banning games left and right because it doesn't fit in with society.










. . . and I guarantee you that the vast majority of parents and lawmakers that will read up on this study WILL NOT take the time to really think things through, and instead get their crusade fired up again while the motor is still nice and warm.

 

[geldonyetich]

Personally, I'd say my depression has a lot more to do with the economy sucking, but games as easy a foil as you could ask for.

 

[blankedboy]

My question in return to answer you is, dont most addictions lead to depression?

Well all of them should in theory.

 

[kingog]

I seem to suffer from all of the things mentioned. It's just that, i am willing to do other things most of the time, its just that my friends never invite me to do anything, which leads me to a state where gaming is my escape from the world that i live in and i lose what friends i have over time.

 

[bigglesb]

I think there's probably some truth to the idea that gaming causes depression. I occasionally binge-play games and tend to feel awful afterwards. Maybe it's just the feeling of having wasted time, or the natural result of sunlight deprivation but I think there might be more to it. And yeah, I've been to a doc about depression before and came out 'moderately depressed' at the time. Seemed so unscientific (they just ask you questions like 'have you considered suicide' and whatnot which all seemed too crude to actually diagnose what essentially seems to be a neuro-chemical disorder)

This was all a while ago, but I think I remember being told that depression is strongly linked to malfunctioning dopamine receptors. Dopamine is what your brain uses to tell itself that it's happy and is used as a reward mechanism for all sorts of things. Coincidentally, dopamine releases are one of the main things game designers try to trigger on a regular basis: that is they try to fire off our internal reward mechanisms to give a sense of achievement or joy or whatnot for whatever it is that we've done in the game.

I'm no neuroscientist, but it doesn't seem entirely far fetched that games might cause our dopamine receptors to become desensitised through over stimulation. That could in turn lead to a feeling of depression or addiction.

More research should definitely be done. But if a link is found, what would that mean? What would we do about it?

 

[BENZOOKA]

Aren't all 13-year-olds depressed every other day?

Anywho, I believe this study. It makes sense and I could even vouch for that myself through own experiences. Too much gaming type of escapism is not good for you. But as mentioned in the OP, gaming dos not equate depression, but it can, and in these circumstances it will, be a rather large factor in the scale.

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

Like any habit that you have, unless it's an unconscious one, if you don't do it when or how often you're accustomed to it, it starts to bother you. This holds true for people that drink coffee or soda, or any number of other similar things.

That aside, however, any amount of gaming that would be considered "addicted" simply means that they're not doing much else, or spending a disproportionate amount of time on the game. A lot of people that play WoW, or pretty much any multiplayer shooter spend a gratuitous amount of time on them. The real way to test to see if they're addicted would be to take said people and remove the game(s) from them and see if they start showing the typical signs of withdrawal.

 

[-Ulven-]

I only get depressed when exiting a video game, taking a look at the news and seeing.. hey, people love murdering and my life's worth just sank, I am graded on a numerical system of skills that are practiced but never honed... bah... I'm not depressed by video games, I'm depressed by the world and its inhabitans. Therefore videgoames ---> Escapism. Oh sweet joy.

EDIT: All I am saying is that it's not the games leading to depression, often the other way around. Escapism is one hell of a getaway from worries.

 

[TiefBlau]

Jeeze, stop it people. It's creepy.

Video gaming doesn't need defending, much less video game addiction.

If you honestly believe that sitting still and staring at a glowing screen 8-10 hours a day doesn't naturally conclude in depression, then it won't be long before they start proving that video games make you stupid, or at least insecure, too.

This is a perfectly valid study that proves a very plausible claim.

What you should REALLY be worried about is how lobbyists and media watchdogs will misconstrue these claims.

 

[theheadgeek]

"Videogame Addiction MIGHT Lead to Depression"

There, fixed that headline for you. It clearly doesn't show a causal link in the article. It shows there is a link (i.e. the kids might just play more due to the depression, not because of it).

 

[TiefBlau]

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.

I've seen people with actual depression and you know what cured them? Them fixing the problems that caused it.

You seem to be confusing normal depression with clinical depression.

Clinically depressed people don't really have problems. They don't really have anything. It's difficult to explain the phenomenon of someone having nothing to live for, but whatever instinct that drives a person to live isn't there. It isn't stress. It's just nothing.

Also, your idea of placebo effect sugar pills is interesting. It's almost as if the United States is lacking some kind of federal Drug--and perhaps Food--Administration that, you know, tests for these kinds of things. Not exactly that hard to conduct.

 

[Sarkule]

I'm pretty sure it's the other way around.
I had depression and anxiety, and while I was recovering, I got into gaming, and it makes me feel much better. So at least in my case, this study is wrong.

 

[Faladorian]

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.

I've seen people with actual depression and you know what cured them? Them fixing the problems that caused it.

You seem to be confusing normal depression with clinical depression.

Clinically depressed people don't really have problems. They don't really have anything. It's difficult to explain the phenomenon of someone having nothing to live for, but whatever instinct that drives a person to live isn't there. It isn't stress. It's just nothing.

Also, your idea of placebo effect sugar pills is interesting. It's almost as if the United States is lacking some kind of federal Drug--and perhaps Food--Administration that, you know, tests for these kinds of things. Not exactly that hard to conduct.

You're awfully naive to assume that the FDA doesn't have people looking over their shoulder assuring the "right" test results.

If there is nothing, then that can be an outside problem in itself. I can become pretty testy when I get bored. I can imagine that some people might want to die from boredom. Cure the boredom, problem solved. Depression disappears.

You missed what he was saying. That's normal depression, when an event or events put you in a state of constant horrible feeling and lethargy. Clinical depression is a mental condition. You can't just tell a clinically depressed person to "stop sucking at life," because they might not in the first place, and that isn't even the issue. It's a chemical imbalance, like people have already said. When you lack serotonin and norepinephrine you feel like shit all of the time. The whole point of a mental condition is that it has no reason other than a "glitch" in the person's psychology. You couldn't tell an angry murderer to "just calm down, and rampages solved." It doesn't work that way.

 

[TiefBlau]

You're awfully naive to assume that the FDA doesn't have people looking over their shoulder assuring the "right" test results.

And you're awfully desperate to believe that this is how they showed a link between video game addiction and depression.

If there is nothing, then that can be an outside problem in itself. I can become pretty testy when I get bored. I can imagine that some people might want to die from boredom. Cure the boredom, problem solved. Depression disappears.

Easier said than done. Nothing is interesting when you're depressed.

If I cut your hypothalamus, you'll lose your ability to create long term memories. You can yell at yourself and say that this is a result of being stupid and not paying attention, but that does little to remedy the fact that you are not physically able to encode memories.

Clinical depression is a result of a variety of factors. A lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle can help lead to a chemical imbalance in the brain. Maybe you're not getting enough serotonin or dopamine. In that case, you can and will get depression, and no amount of "Fix your fucking problems and stop being so depressed" is going to change that.

So again, if you honestly believe that sitting 8 hours a day in front of a glowing screen moving nothing but your fingers and engaging only in TV shows and video games doesn't lead to depression, you're only fooling yourself.

 

[Faladorian]

You missed what he was saying. That's normal depression, when an event or events put you in a state of constant horrible feeling and lethargy. Clinical depression is a mental condition. You can't just tell a clinically depressed person to "stop sucking at life," because they might not in the first place, and that isn't even the issue. It's a chemical imbalance, like people have already said. When you lack serotonin and norepinephrine you feel like shit all of the time. The whole point of a mental condition is that it has no reason other than a "glitch" in the person's psychology. You couldn't tell an angry murderer to "just calm down, and rampages solved." It doesn't work that way.

And you missed the part where I said that it doesn't exist. It's made up. Industries have been making up diseases for centuries and this is no different. I've been diagnosed with clinical depression just recently by multiple doctors. It's bullshit. I knew it was bullshit when I was diagnosed. All it took was to solve the immediate problem and BAM. There goes my "chemical imbalance" which the activity which I partook in had nothing to do with.

There's also the possibility that doctors were wrong. When I was young I had to be rushed to the hospital on several occasions because I couldn't breathe. They kept diagnosing it as croup every time. I went to the same hospital about 4 times and they said croup every time. Well next time we went to a different hospital and they said right away it was asthma. They were right. Doctors make mistakes, and you don't see my going around saying "CROUP DOESN'T FUCKING EXIST" because it does, I was just misdiagnosed. You could have been, too.

 

[Faladorian]

You missed what he was saying. That's normal depression, when an event or events put you in a state of constant horrible feeling and lethargy. Clinical depression is a mental condition. You can't just tell a clinically depressed person to "stop sucking at life," because they might not in the first place, and that isn't even the issue. It's a chemical imbalance, like people have already said. When you lack serotonin and norepinephrine you feel like shit all of the time. The whole point of a mental condition is that it has no reason other than a "glitch" in the person's psychology. You couldn't tell an angry murderer to "just calm down, and rampages solved." It doesn't work that way.

And you missed the part where I said that it doesn't exist. It's made up. Industries have been making up diseases for centuries and this is no different. I've been diagnosed with clinical depression just recently by multiple doctors. It's bullshit. I knew it was bullshit when I was diagnosed. All it took was to solve the immediate problem and BAM. There goes my "chemical imbalance" which the activity which I partook in had nothing to do with.

There's also the possibility that doctors were wrong. When I was young I had to be rushed to the hospital on several occasions because I couldn't breathe. They kept diagnosing it as croup every time. I went to the same hospital about 4 times and they said croup every time. Well next time we went to a different hospital and they said right away it was asthma. They were right. Doctors make mistakes, and you don't see my going around saying "CROUP DOESN'T FUCKING EXIST" because it does, I was just misdiagnosed. You could have been, too.

This is an ongoing trend though. Everyone I know, both near and far, who has had "clinical depression" simply got over it. No meds, no bullshit. Just get up and fix your shit. If you can't do that, then you're really a failure of a person.

I'm assuming nobody wanted to bother looking into it. They wanted to dismiss it as a cookie-cutter diagnosis. I'm just saying, if you are clinically depressed it means your brain does not produce enough of the chemicals that make you happy, or even content. The only way around that is medication, or feeding an addiction (which is never a good idea). We're blurring the line between the two, when clinical depression is the only one I'm talking about. Somebody who is just depressed because of things that have happened to them can "get their shit together" or find a hobby, get in a relationship, find a passion in life, etc. But (properly diagnosed) clinical depression is simply when the brain is having issues making serotonin.

 

[SimuLord]

I'd argue that it works something like this:

1 - The person has a problem that results in playing games excessively (e.g. difficulty socialising or addiction)
2 - Prolonged isolation exacerbates those issues (kind of a vicious circle)
3 - The issues eventually become the subject of depression

That's kind of from personal experience and I could be wrong of course. I guess I'm arguing that addiction could be a cause but it's not the only one.

So it went for me when I was 15. My social life was in the shitter so I turned to gaming as a form of escapism, the extended isolation from other people destabilized me emotionally (even a solitary person needs some social contact and support), destabilization of emotion led to depression, depression nearly led to suicide.

Did excessive gaming cause my depression? Of course not. And this study would seem to make the same foolish chicken-and-egg argument.

 

[Sarkule]

You missed what he was saying. That's normal depression, when an event or events put you in a state of constant horrible feeling and lethargy. Clinical depression is a mental condition. You can't just tell a clinically depressed person to "stop sucking at life," because they might not in the first place, and that isn't even the issue. It's a chemical imbalance, like people have already said. When you lack serotonin and norepinephrine you feel like shit all of the time. The whole point of a mental condition is that it has no reason other than a "glitch" in the person's psychology. You couldn't tell an angry murderer to "just calm down, and rampages solved." It doesn't work that way.

And you missed the part where I said that it doesn't exist. It's made up. Industries have been making up diseases for centuries and this is no different. I've been diagnosed with clinical depression just recently by multiple doctors. It's bullshit. I knew it was bullshit when I was diagnosed. All it took was to solve the immediate problem and BAM. There goes my "chemical imbalance" which the activity which I partook in had nothing to do with.

There's also the possibility that doctors were wrong. When I was young I had to be rushed to the hospital on several occasions because I couldn't breathe. They kept diagnosing it as croup every time. I went to the same hospital about 4 times and they said croup every time. Well next time we went to a different hospital and they said right away it was asthma. They were right. Doctors make mistakes, and you don't see my going around saying "CROUP DOESN'T FUCKING EXIST" because it does, I was just misdiagnosed. You could have been, too.

This is an ongoing trend though. Everyone I know, both near and far, who has had "clinical depression" simply got over it. No meds, no bullshit. Just get up and fix your shit. If you can't do that, then you're really a failure of a person.

Clearly you've never met anyone that ACTUALLY had clinical depression.
There isn't any 'shit to fix'
I had clinical depression, yet I had no problems that needed to be fixed.
It was suggested by a doctor, but then actually diagnosed by a psychologist and psychiatrist.
One doctor diagnosing you doesn't mean you have it. And saying that you're a failure of a person for not just getting over it is really insensitive, and ignorant. Try researching something before you go blindly insulting people who actually have it.

 

[Sebenko]

No, it's the lack of real world social contact that's at the core of this.

Take it from me. As someone who was a videogame "addict" (though there's no such thing as addiction to games. Except Minecraft.), and has moved on to having a full real world social life, being with people has made me far happier than I was.