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Anti-Depressants Used Against StarCraft Addiction
dotarray writes "Hope may be at hand for the poor souls addicted to video games. Recent research from South Korea has shown that a common anti-depressant, Bupropion (sold as Welbutrin, Zyban and Voxra) can 'decrease craving for Internet game play' as well as the brain activity triggered by video game cues. This is a drug often used to help quit smoking, to lose weight or to recover from drug addiction, in addition to typical anti-depressant and anti-anxiety uses. And, with Korean scientists already on-board, how better to test this theory than to gather up a bunch of StarCraft players?"
Do the addicts stay off or do they simply get addicted to a new substance (anti-depressants)?
Generally, antidepressants don't do this. Wellbutrin (from experience) also, does not do this. Which ones do?
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
Blizzard saw this coming, it was the only thing getting them off their asses for Starcraft 2!
It's great they have a "cure" for Starcraft addiction... too bad it took them 10 years to crack it, now Starcraft 2 is out with "super-extra-addiction" added!
I'm currently taking Bupropion and I don't agree with this article... I've been playing Starcraft even more since I've been on it. Probably cause I'm not all depressed anymore
And what about those of us who use Starcraft (2) [in a slightly-more-healthy manner] as a means to help treat our depression?
Thank goodness no one has shown common drugs causing a decrease craving for Internet porn.
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
Zoloft rush kekeke ^_^
I've been on Zoloft twice. The first time, I gained quite a bit of weight. Serotonin plays a major role in appetite regulation. In my experience, that means the feelings of hunger and satiety change, and if you don't adapt to these changes, you might just end up eating a lot more! My eating habits were poor, and I indulged these habits a lot more without the normal feelings to guide me. I never adapted, and I blamed Zoloft for the weight gain.
Back on Zoloft, I've lost weight. About a year before starting Zoloft, I changed my diet completely and started exercising, and immediately began losing weight. While on Zoloft, that has continued (or perhaps accelerated a bit). Once again, my sense of hunger is a bit off, but with good eating habits in place, the only real difference is forgetting to eat sometimes.
Of course, I can't generalize from my experience to everyone. But I'd still suggest working on your eating habits before going on an anti-depressant, simply because it is helpful outside that context, as well :-)
I'd normally dismiss issues around "addiction" that isn't, but rather strong habits, but I'm all for research. Did anything actually happen here? I can't tell because the article is so bad.
Did the medicated group play while getting treatment? Would a forced break from playing cause the same effect? Control group? 6 weeks is a really short time to get acclimated to a new antidepressant, how about a follow up?
Bupropion is rarely used for anti-anxiety. As a dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor it has the tendency to increase anxiety. Another side effect is an increase in libido (and not a small one). They're probably all out getting laid instead of playing.
I hear LSD, cocaine, and crack work even better to rid yourself of a StarCraft addiction.
How do they make games that are like crack to gamers? I have been playing SC2, I enjoy it. And I feel bad that I haven't actually gotten around to playing it this week. I was trying to get through a single player level once a day (plus meeting any normal achievements), but it's more like once a week now.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I use linux and it makes me want to shit every where, I also weigh 400lbs and will never get laid because my penis got chopped off by installing gentoo on my toaster.
There is no real reason to want people to be addicted to porn unless you directly profit from it.
A Shitty Dell Laptop cured me.. Can't finish the Single player and mutiplayer, well might as well forget that. 6 gigs of Ram Nvidia Card and Core 2 due can't stand up to SC2
Kind of like treating morphine addiction with heroin...
The levels talked about in this study are not that high (at least 30 hours). I was mildly addicted to an MMO, about 1000 hours of playtime in a little under a year, and while I'm fully aware there are far more serious addictions than mine, for the average addict (which seems to be around what I was) I'm not so sure such drastic measures as anti-depressants are needed. In my worthless opinion, they should be testing anti-depressants on the severe cases, not the guy who just plays 4 hours a day.
Willpower does not work. I "just won't play today" always becomes "just an hour" which becomes "shit, it's 4 AM." A lot of people I know seem to never leave this stage, they just keep stringing it along, (it took me six months) you're not going to win it with your mind, you already lost, that's why you're an addict.
Instead, try creating a huge effort barrier to require you to play your game. Uninstall it, (or ask a friend too when you have one of those lucid moments when you really want to quit), remove your graphics card, and buy the shittiest one on the market so you can't play anything. This way, in order to play again, you have to go to the store and buy a new graphics card, remove the old one, install the new one, install drivers, and install/update/patch the game. Since this takes four hours of work, you will probably have another lucid moment during it to realize what you are doing and be able to stop.
At the risk of sounding like I'm on the high horse, please, try to rid yourself of your addiction with some reasonable steps first. Going as drastic as anti-depressants is risky, especially when for the average addict going that far probably isn't needed. Just my worthless opinion.
Posting anonymously since it's the only way I'd seriously talk about this.
I would bet that the SSRI's sexual side-effects would decrease the craving.
I've tried a dozen different anti-depressants ( I'm off them now ) and nearly every one had
interesting side effects, usually effecting my sleep patterns. Bupropion was the ultimate
in this regard. My vivid dream advertures while under this little purple pill far exceeded anything
that some simple computer game could emulate. Fear, excitement, violence and lust in deep space,
forests, cities and other environments almost kept me sleeping 24/7. I can't count how many time
I awoke after a violent nocturnal emission while having imaginary sex with multiple partners
or via auto-fellatio. Keep away.
How statistically significant were these results, given that the sample size was nineteen? I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions considering the control and experimental groups must have included 10 or fewer people.
"Hope may be at hand for the poor souls addicted to video games"
Someone should give some drugs to this guy
american idol, jeopardy, or similar other programs. doing that every night is so much more 'normal' and 'good'. its a good pastime habit ...
Read radical news here
...that's the stuff.
Does it help curing addiction to slashdot? I want some...
One problem concerning Wellbutrin is its potential for addiction and recreational abuse>.
It functions as an ADHD and depression medication, but is also used to treat stimulant withdrawal of cocaine and nicotine. Like it's hugely popular counterpart Ritalin at high doses (ie. crushed and snorted or intravenous) it can induce euphoria, but with risk of seizure.
Personally given the constant metaphorical references to videogames as being 'like a drug' it seems unwise to prescribe something like this to those addicted to Starcraft or a MMORPG. Alternatives like counselling, and intervention with a social emphasis would be a better route to head down first. The whole idea of ploughing people with pills en masse to remedy issues such as this where environmental and social factors are so prevalent isn't one I'd endorse.
A relative of mine works in a prison; they hand out 'Subutex' or 'methadone' like candy to withdrawing addicts of opium-based drugs like heroin. The prisoners often get hooked to Subutex itself, and most just go back to dealing or robbing soon after release.
I just realized that it was soon after I started taking bupropion that I quit gaming regularly. I used to play nearly every night, typically for several hours. I haven't played any games in nearly two months. It's the longest I've gone since I first owned an NES as a little kid.
Best outcome would be better scores and an end to the addiction, of course.
Home of The Suki Series
They sould try Ibogaine. It's a psychedelic drug that can cure many addictions. And apart from that special effect, the psychedelic experience alone could help game addicts realize that real life is more important and, in fact, the greatest game of all.
I'm pretty sure Wellbutrin does this to other people, to a lesser degree, but let me explain what it did to me (and it permanently affected me to some degree, although not as extreme as when I was on it) It made me have less passion, less desire to do everything. It made me more selfish and sociopathic. It made me only get pleasure from feeling superior to my previous self or other people. It made me more efficient and logical. It made me less empathetic and made it harder to deal with my highly emotional girlfriend. It's a yin/yang drug and it might fix their addiction to video games but it will probably cause them to be less passionate about everything and less insightful.
I accidentally read the headline as:
Anti-Depressants Used Against StarCraft Addiction
A drug that reduces both depression and the pleasure received from playing video games? How long before it becomes the most over-prescribed drug for teens and children? Maybe they'll even combine it with Ritalin to knock out that pesky daydreaming in class. There are way too many parents out there willing to try anything to help manage their kids (without actually spending time with them).
How statistically significant were these results, given that the sample size was nineteen?
Significant enough to warrant another study with a bigger sample size. That's the nature of clinical trials: start small, and if you see any hint of an effect, repeat bigger. Then once your study has covered 1000 people, your new drug application is almost finished.
Back in my WoW playing days, I met a guy that would name characters after AD drugs that he was taking / had taken before. I can totally see him taking this drug but then rolling a Voxra / Zyban orc alt and becoming even more addicted to the game.
:wq
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://www.alternativeratreatments.com/eat-to-live.html
http://www.bluezones.com/makeover-about
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
A lot of research into addiction is focused on dopamine. http://www.utexas.edu/research/asrec/dopamine.html Drugs like Wellbutrin are classified as DRI's or Dopamine re-uptake inhibitors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine_reuptake_inhibitor SSRI's are meant to affect serotonin level's but can also affect dopamine level's. This is one reason why psychologists have started prescribing multiple medications to treat depression . Usually one SSRI and one DRI to maintain serotonin and dopamine levels So using anti-depressants to treat game addiction was bound to happen. I think that in our lifetime we will see drugs that will eliminate addiction all together (for those that are willing to take them).
Psychiatrists, actually, but that's a quibble. So when they start prescribing serotonin, dopamine, and norepinepherine re-uptake inhibitors all together, are they going to figure out that chewing coca leaves was the best answer all along?
do i get the impression that the underlying cause for all are a depression, and that the "addiction" is basically the persons way of getting away from the depression. Kid gets depressed for some reason or other, then find relief in playing a game. Thing is, the parents never noticed the depression. But they do notice the number of hours spent playing said game. End result, they thing the kid is addicted to a game rather then something else.
Thing is, its easier to drug the kid into being a averagely behaving consumer then it is to actually look at why said kid was depressed. This because it is likely that societal changes will be needed to actually fix the source of the depression.
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
Going a nice dinner date with a real live woman takes more time and has far fewer side effects than LSD, cocaine and crack.
I don't know about StarCraft but World of Warcraft (WoW) and WoW Gold are the major source and cause of the Spam some nuts from Korea try to post on my blogs.
I have moderation turned on so ...
I might take on some ads for some remuneration but there is no way I'm giving it away.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Make the addicts smoke pot. It won't necessarily purge their need for online game play but on the bright side they will probably fall asleep at the computer. Problem solved.
In other news, research shows that goal setting, eating right, exercising, going outdoors and getting sun light, and having friends and maybe a girlfriend/boyfriend also helps with Starcraft Addiction and reduces the time spent playing the game.
Come on, its not rocket science. Anti-depressants work, but they are all "profit" based, as is probably this research. A little change in lifestyle can probably do just as much, except in the most extreme cases where mental illness is involved.
Starcraft is not as addictive as WoW or other MMO.
Well, Bupropion doesn't work for this. I've been taking it for years and I still love Starcraft. Maybe they should consult with Blizzard about making addictive games.
Just watch for Vitamin D toxicity. In general, overdosing on natural stuff like carrots and liver oil is quite possible, and with at least weird, and sometimes toxic side effects. As for effectiveness, I doubt that. Whole foods and Vitamin D won't solve things like Manic Depression.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
...always is "more effective" than drugs of mandated purity which have scientifically demonstrated levels of effectiveness.
And here I thought this was supposed to be a News for Nerds site, not news for people who are mystified by the physical properties of magnets.
Those who are on depressant should try shamatha, a form of Buddhist meditation and slowly work yourself to the first jhana.
Once you got hold of it you can cut down your dependance on external pleasures to comfort yourself from whatever is mentally afflicting you.
Its effect is akin to having mindblowing sex that makes you go, "Fuck yea" and leave you all high spirited, ready to take on the world for the entire week. The effect fades over time so you'll have to enter jhana again after that.
The only side effect would be getting enlightened. So, be careful with it.
Remember, this is very important, it's shamatha (concentration meditation) not vipassana (witnessing meditation). If you do vipassana over a long period of time, you'll fall into a phase a lot of mystics described as "the dark night of the soul" and this will deepen your depression.
Slashdot addiction.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
It's quiet possible that the patents in the study who responded favorably have a form of ADHD and that playing Starcraft 2 gives their minds the mental stimulation they've been lacking. By giving these people Bupropion you're basically replacing the mental stimulation of Starcraft with the dopamine-induced stimulation of medication which basically allows them to be able to better focus on things other than video games. Ultimately it may prove that they are dependent on video games much like many of us are dependent on psychoactive drugs for our own well being.
"Some fight for law. Some fight for justice. What will you fight for? One day, you will see."
Or a big fat placebo. It's all the same crap.
Starcraft 2 is awesome, so this drug may as well be an "anti-awesome" drug. Why would I seek to deprive myself of something fun?
I quit using it in two weeks. It's also a highly allergy triggering drug, I went to emergency twice, in the middle of the night.
I am taking 300mg of Wellbutrin every single morning, and let me tell you I am completely addicted to playing Starcraft 2!!! LoL'z at those who think they will cure me with this....
Welbutrin is actually a minor stimulant and i find I concentrate and react faster. In short it may help with game addiction, which i don't really have a problem with, and when I do play I play better.
- DenialX
The media and politicians really seem to like this idea, so it's a decent way to get funding for your study -- but is it really a problem we should be worried about? Video game playing is a form of recreation. Plenty of people spend more than 30 hours a week doing something they love, and very few of them are ever referred to as "addictions". We never talk about people being "addicted" to Golf because they go out and play Golf twice a week and watch a bit of Golf on TV in other free moments. The amount of time you spend on a form of recreation can suddenly make the difference between a perfectly healthy past-time and an "addiction". What about youths "addicted" to basketball? Hell, what about a passive activity that's arguably even more dangers: addicted to television?
I'm not saying that some people don't spend an unhealthy amount of time playing video games and then obsess about them when they're not playing. But unlike proper drug addictions, these people are not ruining their lives in pursuit of their hobby. They aren't happy, well-adjusted individuals who "everybody really liked until the video games got him". They are people who are unhappy with almost every aspect of their life, and find the enjoyment in video games to be the only source of enjoyment they can look forward to. In short, "Video Game Addiction" is not a disease, its a symptom -- probably of depression. With that in mind, it does make sense that you could "treat" it with anti-depressants -- but should we really be focused on treating symptoms? Hell, it's not even really a symptom so much as it is a form of self-medication. I'm willing to bet that depressed individuals who develop video-gaming habits are probably much less likely to kill themselves. . .
Oh, I know there are stories in the Newspaper about marriages being "destroyed" by World of Warcraft or whatever, but I'm pretty sure that if you show me a person who withdrew into World of Warcraft to avoid his marriage, I can probably show you a marriage that wasn't particularly happy in the first place.
I'll agree that the best way to get vitamin D is moderate sun exposure, however, in our society practically no one can accomplish this. Lifequards are about the only profession where people dress and behave like our ancestors as far as sun exposure, a lifestyle for which the human body is adapted.
See:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDPhysiology.shtml
"Studies show that if you go out in the summer sun in your bathing suit until your skin just begins to turn pink, you make between 10,000 and 50,000 units of cholecalciferol in your skin. Professor Michael Holick of Boston University School of Medicine has studied this extensively and believes a reasonable average of all the studies is 20,000 units. That means a few minutes in the summer sun produces 100 times more vitamin D than the government says you need! As discussed in other pages, this is the single most important fact about vitamin D. The skin does another amazing thing with cholecalciferol. It prevents vitamin D toxicity. Once you make about 20,000 units, the same ultraviolet light that created cholecalciferol begins to degrade it. The more you make, the more destroyed. So a steady state is reached that prevents the skin from making too much cholecalciferol. This is why no one has ever been reported to develop vitamin D toxicity from the sun, though it is possible when taking vitamin D orally."
See also:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
"Is vitamin D toxic? Not if we take the same amount nature intended when we go out in the sun. Vieth R. Vitamin D supplementation, 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration, and safety. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69:842-56. Vieth attempted to dispel unwarranted fears in medical community of physiological doses of vitamin D in 1999 with his exhaustive and well-written review. His conclusions: fear of vitamin D toxicity is unwarranted, and such unwarranted fear, bordering on hysteria, is rampant in the medical profession. [Vieth R, Chan PC, MacFarlane GD. Efficacy and safety of vitamin D3 intake exceeding the lowest observed adverse effect level. Am J Clin Nutr. 2001 Feb;73(2):288-94.]"
As is suggested on that site, the worries about vitamin D toxicity are essentially like worries about drowning by someone dying of dehydration in the desert. Sure, it can happen, but it's not the urgent problem. But with a rising autism epidemic, worries about influenza, lots of cancer, and so on, pretty much everyone in the USA desperately needs a lot more vitamin D.
Also, vitamin D3 (the recommended form) may have less issues than the vitamin D2 variant.
Essentially, can you point to even one case where a child has died from vitamin D toxicity, in the way there are endless cases for children who died from toxicity from ingesting iron pills or over the counter pain killers?
And in the rare cases in the literature where people got to much vitamin D (like from a manufacturing error), the symptoms went away with discontinuing the high doses. You would be hard put to find a safer vitamin, in that sense. With that said, sure, any pill you take has risks (including manufacturing errors, tampering, and so on). And no one out there is suggesting taking more than 5000 IU D3 daily for an adult without a regular blood test (and it looks like 10,000 IU D3 daily is a reasonable safe limit, not the 2000 IU long since suggested, which as you can see from above, is just one tenth of what your body will make normally).
For example, from that article, it is suggested 40,000 IU D3 a day in *infants* will result in toxicity in one to for months. An infant weights one tenth of what an adult weight (or less). They cite 50,000 IU D3 for several months in an adult to produce toxicity. No one recommends that kind of levels. (Although people may recommend 50,000 IU D3 for a day or so if you are coming down with influenza...)
So, anywa
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
Nice. The Google ad I got next to the article was for a 10 day free trial to Warcraft
Does it also work against shopping channel addiction? Or to TV propaganda? Or the compulsion to reply to slashd posts? Or believing official press-releases? Or getting into genocidal slaughter and invasions on false pretenses? Now *that* would be a revolution!
Treating game "addiction" with anti-depressants. FFS, how about instead of giving them drugs, they take their computers away and force them to GET OUT AND GET A FUCKING LIFE. Fuck.
I'm addicted to placebos, you insensitive clod!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Well Starcraft 2 seemed to be curing me of my WOW addiction...
I assume Blizzard will come out with something around Christmas to cure me of my SC2 addiction...
After that... well...
I started taking it and I started losing interest playing wow with my wife. I ended up despising it but I never got the connection. I just assumed there are better things to do and feel guilty playing World of Warcraft when I am underemployed. I also understand the possible correlation between under/unemployment and World of Warcraft. :-) So I quit. Whether it was Wellubutrin or a more positive outlook after stopping MMORPG is up for debate. The 2 go hand in hand as those who take such medications have a genunuine desire to better themselves than those who do not care( who would not want to take anything or quit gaming anyway)
http://saveie6.com/
"addiction" and "starcraft 2" are only used in the same sentence by newbs covered in pwnsauce.
PS - "Patching" social problems with drugs is about as hilarious as producing a single baby "faster" by assigning more Women to the task.