Video games not a disorder

D_o_S · Jun 25, 2007

Doctors backed away on Sunday from a controversial proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder akin to alcoholism, saying psychiatrists should study the issue more. Addiction experts also strongly opposed the idea at a debate at the American Medical Association's annual meeting.

They said more study is needed before excessive use of video and online games - a problem that affects about 10 percent of players - could be considered a mental illness.

"There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

A committee of the influential physicians' group had proposed video game addiction be listed as a mental disorder in the American Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, a guide used by the American Psychiatric Association in diagnosing mental illness.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Mussels · Jun 25, 2007

*drinks some whiskey while hunting people down in BF2, die other team die!*

(just kidding, even on the whiskey)

So yay, doctors backed us up!

demonbrawn · Jun 25, 2007

I was hoping for as much. That was just plain silly...

WarEagleAU · Jun 25, 2007

Yeah, an addicition is where you cant stop doing something. I dont think too many folks would have a problem leaving gaming alone for a few hours or a day or three.

Darkrealms · Jun 25, 2007

UPDATE:" Breaking news, as the American Medical Association's annual meeting ajourned two thirds of the doctors pulled out their PDA phones or laptops and got back to their busy lives of txting, myspacing, and gaming to relax from the meeting."
@_o

demonbrawn · Jun 25, 2007

Hahah of course. I bet several of them are victims of the Crackberry syndrome.

kakazza · Jun 26, 2007

Well, looking at how many WoW player CAN'T go out, CAN'T meet friends, CAN'T study for school/university because they are on a big raid with their guild I doubt that gaming can't be addictive...

Games can definatly be addictive, but since it *only* ruins your social life and not your body/brain like drugs do, it's "a-ok" by most people I guess...

Random Murderer · Jun 26, 2007

kakazza said:
Well, looking at how many WoW player CAN'T go out, CAN'T meet friends, CAN'T study for school/university because they are on a big raid with their guild I doubt that gaming can't be addictive...

Games can definatly be addictive, but since it *only* ruins your social life and not your body/brain like drugs do, it's "a-ok" by most people I guess...

gaming couldn't be an addiction because you don't actually become physically or mentally addicted. some may argue otherwise, but if you can't go through withdrawal, you aren't addicted. period.

mullered07 · Jun 26, 2007

wow i was playing tetris with my wife (nes original on emulator) last night for hours im addicted :banghead:

ex_reven · Jun 26, 2007

Random Murderer said:
gaming couldn't be an addiction because you don't actually become physically or mentally addicted. some may argue otherwise, but if you can't go through withdrawal, you aren't addicted. period.

I agree.
Addiction requires altered brain chemistry.
I seriously doubt that gaming leads to altered brain chemistry

The social life part doesnt make it an addiction. Being sociable is just a skill that you learn through experience, just like driving a car. It would take an equal amount of time for a 'geek' to go out of their way to talk someone than any other person. You get a person who hasnt been on a date, and a hunk of a guy who has slept with thousands of women and compare them, its not a fair indication of anything, it just means they are less experienced at it, not that theyr totally incapable of having a social life.

Hell maybe they dont even want a social life, they are happy with their own level of social life. The only reason you'd see them getting depressed is because they realise the way other people view them and they wish they could just be treated normally. Maybe if popular culture didnt stereotype them so much as computer obsessed freaks they wouldnt have social problems at all or fear joining in on "normal" human socialisation.

Random Murderer · Jun 26, 2007

ex_reven said:
Hell maybe they dont even want a social life, they are happy with their own level of social life. The only reason you'd see them getting depressed is because they realise the way other people view them and they wish they could just be treated normally. Maybe if popular culture didnt stereotype them so much as computer obsessed freaks they wouldnt have social problems at all or fear joining in on "normal" human socialisation.

QFT!!!

Mussels · Jun 26, 2007

Well in my case, i am computer obsessed

but i also have a life outside of it.
People who do one thing and one thing only, to the extent it hampers social interatcion with other people is always bad - but its not the thing they do thats at fault, its that person and their upbringing. (Obesssive gamers, stalkers etc) - addictions are a little different, as they're chemical/biological rather than just habit/psychological.

Darkrealms · Jun 26, 2007

kakazza I play WoW, have several characters 70s among them and I still manage to go to work and continue with life. Life is what you make it.

Processor	AMD Opteron 144
Motherboard	DFI Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR Expert
Cooling	Watercooled - Alphacool Nexxxos XP, BIX2, Eheim HPPS
Memory	2x 512MB OCZ PC 3200EL Platinum Rev.2 (TCCD)
Video Card(s)	2x Gainward GeForce 6800 Ultra (430/1200)
Storage	4x WD Raptor 740GD in RAID 0
Display(s)	Eizo FlexScan L768
Case	CM Stacker
Audio Device(s)	Audigy 2
Power Supply	Silverstone Zeus ST65ZF

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

System Name	Sony Vaio - VGNFW390-CTO
Processor	Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9550 (2.66GHz)
Cooling	Stock
Memory	4GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
Video Card(s)	ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM (pitiful card)
Storage	320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
Display(s)	LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
Audio Device(s)	SupremeFX
Software	Windows 7

System Name	Pandemic 2020
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 "Gen 2" 2600X
Motherboard	AsRock X470 Killer Promontory
Cooling	CoolerMaster 240 RGB Master Cooler (Newegg Eggxpert)
Memory	32 GB Geil EVO Portenza DDR4 3200 MHz
Video Card(s)	ASUS Radeon RX 580 DirectX 12 DUAL-RX580-O8G 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video C
Storage	WD 250 M.2, Corsair P500 M.2, OCZ Trion 500, WD Black 1TB, Assorted others.
Display(s)	ASUS MG24UQ Gaming Monitor - 23.6" 4K UHD (3840x2160) , IPS, Adaptive Sync, DisplayWidget
Case	Fractal Define R6 C
Audio Device(s)	Realtek 5.1 Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair RMX 850 Platinum PSU (Newegg Eggxpert)
Mouse	Razer Death Adder
Keyboard	Corsair K95 Mechanical & Corsair K65 Wired, Wireless, Bluetooth)
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	Sony Vaio - VGNFW390-CTO
Processor	Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9550 (2.66GHz)
Cooling	Stock
Memory	4GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
Video Card(s)	ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM (pitiful card)
Storage	320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
Display(s)	LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
Audio Device(s)	SupremeFX
Software	Windows 7

Video games not a disorder

D_o_S

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