Slashdot Mirror
Experts Oppose Classifying Gaming Addiction As Mental Disorder
News.com reports that despite earlier rumblings that addiction to videogames could be classified a mental disorder similar to alcoholism, experts have stepped back from that analysis. The decision by the AMA is that psychiatrists should make further efforts to study the phenomenon, while addiction experts strongly opposed the idea at the organization's annual meeting. "Even before debate on the subject began, the committee that made the proposal backed away from its position, and instead recommended that the American Psychiatric Association consider the change when it revises its next diagnostic manual in 5 years. The psychiatrist group has said if the science warrants, it could be considered for inclusion in the next diagnostic manual, which will be published in 2012. While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating."
Eating ... curses! I knew I forgot to do something today.
Philosophy.
If the uncontrollable desire to play games of chance (gambling) is classified as an addiction, how is an uncontrollable desire to play games of any other sort not? Can online gambling be considered an addiction?
The only meaningful difference is the money involved. And even then, between gold farming and monthly fees for WOW, is it really that different?
to compulsively play videogames is a habituation, not an addiction
it would be misleading to the point of propaganda to lump videogames and heroin under the same umbrella "addiction". something like heroin actually manipulates the biochemical pathways of reward in the brain. videogames can be extremely pleasurable and habit forming. but to think about how videogames are habit forming with the same terminology as how heroin or cocaine or methamphetamine manipulates your brain chemistry directly is extremely misleading
likewise, i would say a number of other "addictions" are really just trendy bullshit terms in order to decrease the stigma attached to being weak in character. such as "sex addiction" or "gambling addiction"
no: something that manipulates biochemical pathways directly is addiction, something that works on reward pathways via psychological stimulus is habituation
if a psychology wonk begs to differ with my terminology, fine. i may have the exact meaning of the words wrong
but everyone from the casual layman to the hardcore professional needs to understand that something that acts on the brain directly via biochemical manipulation needs another word to describe what it does that a habit forming activity that sucks you in via simple sensory stimulus. there's a simple bifurcation of meaning here that needs to be addressed if indeed my terminology is wrong
there are certainly highs and lows with both habituation/ addiction, and there are plenty of similarities, but the terminology should be different, to address how these habits form
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Push a button a hundred times... wait for the payoff.... DING. Yay!
If anyone thinks there's a difference between gambling and WoW they just don't understand either....
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Lovely, let's add another meaningless disorder to the DSM so that people can take real mental illnesses even less seriously.
Having a baby too can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating. That's why I think it's a mental disorder !
Non-Linux Penguins ?
The affliction is called 'addiction' and can be caused by or fixated on any number of things. There is absolutely no reason for yet another flavor of addiction to be spelled out.
This does remind me of a funny thing I read years ago. It was an article about Internet addction written by a psych professor. The punch line was the link to the online support group. Online support group...for Internet addicts. Isn't that like having an AA meeting at a keg party?
Those scientists are nuts.
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating.
So can watching TV.
Or jacking off
Or mowing the lawn.
This definition is so broad it's useless. Anyone can be addicted to anything. Why the need for special categories?
Actually, my wife is, interestingly enough, a psychologist. The main reason that they've taken to adding so many disorders to the DSM is not that they've found new ones per se but that they have found that within certain disorders, like the autistic spectrum of diseases, that there are many more subtypes. At one point, anyone with a pervasive development (autistic-like) disorder was slapped with the label of 'autism'. Now they have identified specific types of autism, everything from 'classic' autism to Asperger's to multiple-complex developmental disorder.
As for video game addiction, my wife happens to also be a specialist in addiction studies and she was actually one of the first people to write about video game addiction as a disorder back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was not widely-accepted at that point that video game playing could be addictive -- but now that it's becoming generally-accepted to be so, she's feeling vindicated.
My blog
My girlfriend's 12 year old son is an addict... Well, at least according to the story.
You are absolutely right though, you can't just let the addition tag get slapped on, and ignore him. He can play games in moderation. We've caught him sneaking games. Like, he'll go to bed, but not be asleep. When he's confident that we're asleep, he'll start playing his games again. We've found him at 4am or later playing... The "cure"? I took the video cable from his monitor. He doesn't have a spare. He can play in reasonable amounts.
Oddly enough, he does exhibit some traits of addiction that I've seen in drug addicts. His withdrawal (emotional, not physical, obviously) is very similar. I'm not an addiction expert, I've just dealt with more than enough druggies over the years.
I think by recognizing that it is an addiction, clueless parents will now know (hopefully) that "oh, he's quiet, he's playing his video games STILL" is not always a good thing, especially when STILL is 5 days of no sleep, no showering, and maybe (just maybe) stopping long enough to grab some microwave food and go back to the game.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Yeah, and I can spend days and weeks drinking booze and not feel the slightest twinge the next week when I have to be a responsible human being. That doesn't mean alcoholism doesn't exist.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
I got addicted (or call it whatever you want) to EQ... I was absolutely in a depressive state due to a variety of factors (I take care of my Dad and have spent my entire 20s basically stuck in/around the house with him, dated four girls over the course of that 10 year span(two of which went out of their way to mentally abuse me further), had to quit college to take care of my dad, was stuck in the same crappy job with no ability to get something else that was compatible with my situation, etc). To top it off, I have something called Avoidant Personality Disorder, which is a type of social anxiety disorder that basically manifests itself with me avoiding to do things, rather than do them and face "certain" rejection.
I started EQ just to play with my best friend here and there... after a couple months, I was approached about being an officer in my guild and shortly thereafter, became a raid leader. At that point, I had a dedication to the game and my guild... to top it off, I was completely accepted and thus didn't have to worry about facing the rejection of my peers. The game was a reality (though separate, I never confused the game and real life) for me that allowed me to relax and not be on guard all the time. Soon, I ended up as the guild leader and another officer and I split raid leadership duties. However, as guild leader and co-raid leader, I felt an even larger obligation to be on and helping out. That avoidant part inside me didn't want to let someone down or they might get mad at me (and thus, reject me). Factor in a regular series of personal accomplishments, group accomplishments, raid accomplishments and guild accomplishments and I was getting a regular high from the game.
I ended up playing between 8-14 hours a day and if I wasn't at work or sleeping, I was at least nearby in case something came up that needed my attention. Eventually, I started burning out and felt a need to leave the game because I knew it was taking a negative toll on my life. I couldn't quit, however, because my (then) gf and I had met in the game and we were living on separate coasts so the game was our way of spending time together every day in between flying back and forth. Not long after that, my co-raid leader realized he was in a similar situation to me and wanted to start a family so he quit. When he did, that increased my burden even more. I had to be on all the time, I had to schedule my life around a 3 night/week raid schedule (plus an "optional" 4th night for people wanting to work on their epics... I say optional because it was optional for everyone but me basically. The few times I didn't attend, I was begged and nagged, sometimes for up to a week prior to make sure I was there to help someone in particular out). Along the way, my gf and I broke up (she had a lot of mental problems herself... she left me for another one of our officers, switched servers and joined a hardcore raid guild where it was 6 nights a week mandatory and basically ignored her 4 year old daughter for the next year). With that, my main reason for staying was essentially gone but I still felt an obligation to everyone and was still enjoying the highs from my accomplishments. A few months later, my gf and I got back together and eventually she moved back to my server... at which point, her drama began all over again).
My officers hated my gf for what she had done to us, and especially me, over the course of the prior year... Our biggest problem as a guild was that the hardcore guilds would burn their people out and then proceed to bribe my guild members to leave so they (the hardcores) could sustain their pace rather than looking at self-sustainability. I had a fallout with the officers one night over yet another person leaving over a bribe after getting the last of what he wanted from us. They blamed me when in reality, he was just out to use us. After much fighting over it, I left the guild with my gf and we set out to start a new guild that wouldn't
Don't leave your mind so open that your brain falls out. Don't close it so much that you cut off the blood.