Web And Game Addictions Might Become Official Disorders

[Gatx]

There's so many psychological disorders out there already, and for some of the most mundane things, so it's really no big deal.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Oh no! Kids are acting in ways we can't possibly comprehend! They must be mentally ill! Quick, drug them! Kids like drugs, it makes them all happy inside, and a model citizen.

Fucking hell, whatever next.

 

[NoOne852]

How many "parents" realize there is a difference from an addiction, and just being irresponsible. If they were parents, they would put their foot down and do something about their child's desire to nothing but what they want. People need to stop blaming kids and start bringing it up to their parents to do something about it.

 

[Dexiro]

Hey if gambling addiction can be a disorder than so can gaming addiction.

The only think we need to worry about is how this is diagnosed and treated. If we aren't careful then people that are perfectly capable of gaming in moderation could be accused of having an addiction.

Also if we're pointing a finger at games and the internet we might as well be a little mean towards TV as well; people become addicted to that too, it just seems a bit too mundane for the media to make a fuss about it.

 

[elexis]

As an Australian I feel I am obliged to inform you:

This is news.com.au. Please disregard any articles from this source and they cannot possibly be credible or even remotely unbiased. They are basically the Australian News(paper) equivalent of Fox News.

 

[xitel]

Games cannot addict (as they don't directly alter brain chemicals) - they can only be compulsions (Thanks @Extracreditz

Sorry, going to only be able to respond to this line, because yes, they can. Gaming addiction is the same as gambling addiction or an addiction to certain kinds of food. It is termed a "psychological addiction" as opposed to a chemical addiction. Given a certain personality type, and enough time spent on an activity, the brain can physically be altered into requiring that activity in order to function at normal levels, thus becoming classified as an addiction. Now, yes, most of the cases in which people say "my son is addicted to games" is just a compulsion at worst, or more likely a parent refusing to blame themselves for awful parenting. But there are valid cases of internet and gaming addiction, and refusing to acknowledge them is not only offensive to them, but is directly hurtful due to impeding any attempts at treatment.

 

[ckam]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. What?! That's like saying homosexuality is a sick?Oh [http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_mental_health.html], right. Give them time, they'll figure out that it's not a sickness.

 

[Rednog]

I'm a bit disappointed with people taking the ludicrous opinion of Extra Credits.
By their logic we should throw out drinking addiction, gambling addiction, and a host of other "addictions" just because they don't alter brain chemistry. Like Xitel said it is a "psychological addiction".
And this trivializing demeanor taken by Extra Credits and people who have taken their opinion as their own is somewhat disheartening. People are actually struggling with this kind of thing and when people start adopting this kind of dismissive attitude it is disheartening and just forces the person with the problem deeper into whatever they're addicted to. Seriously imagine you have a problem and when you reach out for help people just blow you off and tell you to just get over it.
Maybe a small percent of people can just quit cold turkey, but unfortunately most people can't and that kind of attitude won't help them. The members of Extra Credits are deeply involved in the game industry, it is their bread and butter, maybe they're just against the terming of addiction because they see it as another form of demonizing their industry and maybe it will be something that will take cash out of their pockets.
I honestly don't know why they're afraid of it, despite there being gambling addiction, alcohol addiction, people are still gambling and drinking, it really hasn't impacted those businesses in any substantial means.

Seriously, what is the point of arguing the actual term of compulsion vs addiction? Both address that there is a problem, the whole a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
Ironically enough the guy in the Extra Credits portion, despite them trying to force the term compulsion, he slips and does say addiction a couple of times and is pretty much talking like a former addict.

Just as a footnote, we're talking common usage of the term addiction to help people understand, if we're talking proper DSM categorization of course it will be categorized differently and accordingly. Addiction just helps common people quickly and easily understand the problem. If you start throwing out the word "compulsion" people are going to give you a blank stare.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Sorry, going to only be able to respond to this line, because yes, they can. Gaming addiction is the same as gambling addiction or an addiction to certain kinds of food. It is termed a "psychological addiction" as opposed to a chemical addiction. Given a certain personality type, and enough time spent on an activity, the brain can physically be altered into requiring that activity in order to function at normal levels, thus becoming classified as an addiction. Now, yes, most of the cases in which people say "my son is addicted to games" is just a compulsion at worst, or more likely a parent refusing to blame themselves for awful parenting. But there are valid cases of internet and gaming addiction, and refusing to acknowledge them is not only offensive to them, but is directly hurtful due to impeding any attempts at treatment.

OK.

Games cannot addict. Fact.

They CAN peform Behavioural Addiction [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_addiction](a sub-category of compulsion that's been added to the defitinion of addiction - but does not, in itself, cause brain chemical alteration. It can cause the effects of addiction because of the Dopamine receptor in the brain misfiring over a particularly pleasurable substance - but that can include shopping, evangelicial worship, selh-cutting and work)

This category has not been accepted into the DSM-IV yet. It's only been proposed. Which is why adding a subcategory at this time would be paramount to defining a biochemical problem as a mental health issue - which would create a lot of those false positives I talked about earlier.

There are addicts that focus on games. That does NOT make games addictive or such things as game addicts exist. You take away the games from the addicts and they'll just re-focus on cutting, shopping or food - Because they have to.

Compulsion, NOT addiction. That's a mis-use of words that treats one set of symptoms as the other - which is not just offensive, but crippling to the understanding of the Dopamine receptor or other forms of compulsion.

Example: Hyperactivity/Aspergers - The hundreds of false-positives that have provided simply by chemicals like Tartrazine or Sunset Yellow.

Just as a footnote, we're talking common usage of the term addiction to help people understand, if we're talking proper DSM categorization of course it will be categorized differently and accordingly. Addiction just helps common people quickly and easily understand the problem. If you start throwing out the word "consumption" people are going to give you a blank stare.

Compulsion, not consumption. Boy, that helped.

Oh, btw as well,

Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction which does not rely on drugs or alcohol. Increasingly referred to as process addiction[1] or non-substance-related addiction [2][3]) behavioral addiction includes a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until said action causes serious negative consequences to the person's physical, mental, social, and/or financial well-being

So Addiction doesn't mean addicts anymore. Just people classed as causing serious negative consequences to health. That means smoking is an addiction even if you remove Tar, Nicotine and all the addicting factors. That also makes women eating chocolate an addiction.

And that (internet addiction) IS the proposed DSM categorization. Internet addiction and sex addiction. They're added in with "soft addictions" like shoe shopping and drinking coffee.

Because none of these are addictions, they're "compulsions" from Extracreditz view, or Impulse Control Disorders from the APA.

These are already covered in the DSM and have been for decades.IED (Road rage), Pathological Gambling and Kleptomania are next to it.

That's where it belongs. Unless you have some overwhelming case why it's a brain chemical alteration and not a misfiring of brain synapses related to certain conditions.

 

[Beeple]

I was gonna dive into the topic because this is an area I have studied, and I've got a piece of paper that says I'm allowed to stick my head in in discussions like this .

Snip

This guy? Spot on. There were several other studies of this vein too. Even more concerningly, in this particular study the lead Psychologist claimed he would send fake patients to the medical hospitals over the next few weeks, and challenged them to choose the right ones. They identified over 40 fake patients. How many did he send? Zero.

Psychiatry is far too inconsistent for the amount of power they have. Lobotomies, electric shock therapy? On people who by -their- usual definitions would be perfectly healthy?

and finally, apart from the fact that there are some serious conditions (like ADHD, Aspergers, Autism, Schizophrenia, S.A.D, Manic Depression) that still aren't getting the treatment that their sufferers deserve a

I agreed mostly with what this guy said (Especially with the use of the word twats, that was spot on.) Had to pick up on this bit though, if only because you mentioned ADHD which is a massive pet peeve of mine, the position of Schizophrenia, S.A.D, Manic Depression and others as 'mental illnesses' is heavily debatable and I'm not going to argue my own position on these ones.
ADHD though? Not any way near close enough to be classified as an illness. I'm sorry but behavioural choice is not an illness, nor should it be treated, nor should its 'victims' be stigmatized as a result of it. Ritalin is dangerous and serves no necessary purpose.

I'm not going to harp on here about the dangers of 'diagnosis' of mental illnesses and that it primarily exists as a form of social control or as a way to fill the pockets of those so called medical professionals we call 'Psychiatrists' because so many other people have already said it far better.

For anyone interested I recommend researching Sazh and the Anti-Psychiatry Association.

 

[Ruwrak]

It's called discipline, and some people don't have it.

And as far as that stretches, it also applies to any other addiction there is.
No disclipine = addicted. Knowing how to deal with things and tell yourself to use things in balance with the other aspects of life is the key to surviving life.

I game alot, sure 6hours a day if I can. But do I ditch my friends for it, forsake my chores, do not go to work / school or whatnot? Nope. Because I have the discipline to put the game (and internet) down and do something more important.

I wouldn't say it's a game addiction (or alcohol addiction or drug addiction. Take your pick), rather then a 'lack of discipline addiction'. But I'm no psychologist so people will prove me wrong soon enough.

 

[Beeple]

No disclipine = addicted.
(or alcohol addiction or drug addiction. Take your pick)

You're not being proven wrong as such, but these two bits are wrong, Alcohol and drugs directly affect your body and brain and are actually 'addictions' that can't easily be overcome (Though one could argue that it was lack of discipline that led to the addictions in the first place it runs a bit deeper than that in most cases.). Other than that you're more or less on track.

Once it becomes a compulsion it becomes less about discipline, but in getting to that point it is primarily a lack of discipline and self-control, for whatever reason.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I agreed mostly with what this guy said (Especially with the use of the word twats, that was spot on.)

Heh. It was my immediate thought.

Had to pick up on this bit though, if only because you mentioned ADHD which is a massive pet peeve of mine, the position of Schizophrenia, S.A.D, Manic Depression and others as 'mental illnesses' is heavily debatable and I'm not going to argue my own position on these ones.
ADHD though? Not any way near close enough to be classified as an illness.

That's why I caught it earlier. Due to the problems in the DSM, child psychiatry seems to be:

Are you having trouble socially? Aspergers. Are you running around? ADHD. Neither? Parental Abuse.

We've limited the strict definitions to be wooly ones. That's why being a young boy is often seen as "ADHD" and not wanting to join in is seen as "Aspergers". That hurts the people who could be actually damaged.

The Dopamine receptor misfiring could quite easily appear as a "soft addiction" to adrenaline sports - which would be classified as ADHD.

 

[Ruwrak]

You're not being proven wrong as such, but these two bits are wrong, Alcohol and drugs directly affect your body and brain and are actually 'addictions' that can't easily be overcome (Though one could argue that it was lack of discipline that led to the addictions in the first place it runs a bit deeper than that in most cases.). Other than that you're more or less on track.

Once it becomes a compulsion it becomes less about discipline, but in getting to that point it is primarily a lack of discipline and self-control, for whatever reason.

You already mentioned it. Drugs, alcohol and smoking do affect the body in a way that it makes it depend on regular input of said things. True. But with discipline you can do those things and not be addicted. I'd like to advocate that the addictions are more a symptome of a faulty disciplinair attitude, rather then a disease themselves.

Reasoning behind this is that the core of the issue is the disease and the visible the symptomes (I.e. excessive drinking which has other symptomes connected to it.)

To me, it sounds plausible. Discipline and self-control are skills that you can train. To get rid of an addiction requires mountains of discipline to -not- fall back into a set pattern, right? It's indeed hard to get rid of it, but it's not merely physical dependancy, it's also the mental image of 'I need' that needs to be dealth with. Maybe medics focus to much on the physical aspect then the mental aspect?

 

[Tourmeta]

Well obviously, addiction to the internet is very common. I think neglecting the rest of ones life to it is less common though.

 

[Danny Ocean]

My sister used to have a drug addiction. As far as I'm concerned I used to have an addiction to gaming. My reaction when I stopped playing games, was similar to her when she went through drug withdrawal although I guess that sounds insane. In a way I believe people can become completely dependent on technology, and when we let it get to the point where we basically use it as our tool to survive, escape, feel good, etc, it becomes hazardous to our own health.

Yeah, I'm definitely in this camp for the same reason. As far as I'm concerned, I used to have an addiction to videogames. I was short-tempered, rude, seriously lazy, skipped meals (my BMI is now 17.4- don't know how much of that is to do with that phase), skipped sleeping, didn't do any homework for a good year or so (I was put on report), and even skipped a lot of school.

The only reason I didn't completely crash and burn academically is that I was lucky enough to be born with half a brain. The only way I got my act together was when I realised that video games were destroying my life, and I made the whole house go without any kind of electronic entertainment (except for TV, but that was rationed for me) for about two months. My parents were kind enough to fill the time with any books I wanted to read, and boy did I read a lot. It makes me wonder how many minds are going to waste, satisfied by the stimulation provided by games.

Had I not motivated myself, I can easily imagine how my parents would have been unable to stop me. What could they have done when I pretended to go to sleep and then got up to play games? They couldn't disconnect the computer because I needed it for work as well as play, they didn't have the tech knowledge to restrict me that way, and they didn't have the time or energy to restrict me any other way because they had my siblings and their jobs keeping their hands full.

Granted, it wasn't all bad. I now kick ass at video games, and I learned a great deal about computers through association. On the other hand, I didn't go out, had few friends, was dangerously underweight and inactive for a teenager, and acted like a complete ass at home all the damn time. Now I'm still dangerously underweight, prone to procrastination using games, and having to go through significant pecuniary punishment for my previous neglect of my schoolwork.

 

[tharglet]

Tbh, I'm not sure giving each of these compulsive things different names really helps, but they do deserve to be recognised as a problem. Yeah, I do believe that people can get hooked on games and internet as much as some people do with drugs, money, sex or shopping.

Also there's a big difference (to me) between people who spend a lot of time doing said activity and one who is compulsively doing it. I might spend a lot of time on my PC, but take it away and I'll just end up doing something else. Some people go nuts over their PC becoming unavailable for some reason, and won't calm down from it, and it's those that are the problem. Those who cannot switch off.

 

[Baresark]

I was gonna dive into the topic because this is an area I have studied, and I've got a piece of paper that says I'm allowed to stick my head in in discussions like this .

Snip

This guy? Spot on. There were several other studies of this vein too. Even more concerningly, in this particular study the lead Psychologist claimed he would send fake patients to the medical hospitals over the next few weeks, and challenged them to choose the right ones. They identified over 40 fake patients. How many did he send? Zero.

Psychiatry is far too inconsistent for the amount of power they have. Lobotomies, electric shock therapy? On people who by -their- usual definitions would be perfectly healthy?

and finally, apart from the fact that there are some serious conditions (like ADHD, Aspergers, Autism, Schizophrenia, S.A.D, Manic Depression) that still aren't getting the treatment that their sufferers deserve a

I agreed mostly with what this guy said (Especially with the use of the word twats, that was spot on.) Had to pick up on this bit though, if only because you mentioned ADHD which is a massive pet peeve of mine, the position of Schizophrenia, S.A.D, Manic Depression and others as 'mental illnesses' is heavily debatable and I'm not going to argue my own position on these ones.
ADHD though? Not any way near close enough to be classified as an illness. I'm sorry but behavioural choice is not an illness, nor should it be treated, nor should its 'victims' be stigmatized as a result of it. Ritalin is dangerous and serves no necessary purpose.

I'm not going to harp on here about the dangers of 'diagnosis' of mental illnesses and that it primarily exists as a form of social control or as a way to fill the pockets of those so called medical professionals we call 'Psychiatrists' because so many other people have already said it far better.

For anyone interested I recommend researching Sazh and the Anti-Psychiatry Association.

It surprises me with the amount of research out there and experience in misdiagnosing, or the dangers of classification of your children, and no one seems to care. Here we have a group of parents who literally suck at their job (from how the article states their reactions) and it seems they simply want their children diagnosed to relieve themselves of the responsibility of parenting. But things like this could literally destroy their lives if taken too far.

 

[Beeple]

You already mentioned it. Drugs, alcohol and smoking do affect the body in a way that it makes it depend on regular input of said things. True. But with discipline you can do those things and not be addicted. I'd like to advocate that the addictions are more a symptome of a faulty disciplinair attitude, rather then a disease themselves.

Ok that's fair. I'd like to stress that addictions aren't diseases. (A semantic thing, but it's important to me )

The implication that drug (or any substance) addiction and 'gaming addiction' are the same is wrong however, due to addiction being the altering of areas of the brain in reaction to chemicals.

Addicition is a physical dependency, the mental aspect is a side-effect of that physical dependency. However both the physical and mental aspects should be addressed equally in terms of relieveing an addiction and I believe in general doctors and rehabilitation clinics address both of these equally. (They completely ignore the social aspect but that's another rant entirely.)

This is mostly a semantic argument and I could go on to say how discipline can't prevent addiction but it would be irrelevent really.

The key issue is that substance addiction and 'game addiction' are not the same thing and it's dangerous to group them together.

From a personal standpoint I completely agree with your perception, it's definitely the best mentality to have as far as addiction is concerned. I'm just responding from a scientific standpoint

It surprises me with the amount of research out there and experience in misdiagnosing, or the dangers of classification of your children, and no one seems to care. Here we have a group of parents who literally suck at their job (from how the article states their reactions) and it seems they simply want their children diagnosed to relieve themselves of the responsibility of parenting. But things like this could literally destroy their lives if taken too far.

Bingo, though parents aren't necessarily to blame, the state and media also has a heavy influence.

It's not limited to children either, adults are constantly misdiagnosed and stuck with a label for the rest of their life. A label that makes a life absolutely impossible to live, for absolutely no reason.

It's an atrocious breach of human rights.