Video game addiction/withdrawl

[krazykidd]

So this is a very weird question i have to ask . I am a 23year old male and have been playing video games all my life. But only since i moved out of my parents home at 19 have i been playing video games non-stop. When i say non-stop i don't mean i don't stop ever , i mean , every free minute i have i use to play games . I play before going to work , and play when coming back. Four years this has been my routine. I spend more time playing video games than anythig else. Basically , i'm a no life loser that spends every waking moment ( and some asleep) thinking about or playing video games ( i have accepted this fact to be true and i have no problem with that description of myself , i have accepted it).

Now that the setting is set, my problem . If for any reason during my free time ( this excludes work ) i am not playing video games, i feel and extreme sense of boredom, and if i don't play for a couple hours i tend to start to feel down ( not depressed but just sad i guess ,it's hard to explain). This feeling is reversed as soon as i start my games up again. It's kind of like a withdrawl affect from a drug.

I know that i am addicted to video games ,that is a given , but what i want to know is :

Is it possible to have a withdrawl effect from not playing games ?
Have you have similar experiences?
Are you addicted to videogames?
And most importantly should i getb professional help? Or am i overreacting?

They say too much of a good thing is bad , this might be one of those cases. I just want to hear you guys opinion on this because i hold the escapists forum roamers to be quite intelligent and insightful most of the time.

 

[Rednog]

There can be withdrawal effects, in the sense that you get agitated and are easily bored and really have to keep yourself busy with something else because you're brain is currently wired that fun = games. The only problem is that you can get addicted to whatever else you decided to keep yourself occupied with.
I've just found that certain people just have personalities that make them easily susceptible to getting hooked on something. I don't think entirely dropping something is really feasible since you might just replace it with something else. I think trying to moderate it and get your hands on the reigns might be a better option/choice. You still get to play and have fun but you are able to go, hey I've had enough for today I'm going to do something else as a change of pace.