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Video games not a disorder

D_o_S

D_o_S

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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.

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*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!
 
I was hoping for as much. That was just plain silly...
 
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.
 
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
 
Hahah of course. I bet several of them are victims of the Crackberry syndrome.
 
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...
 
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...
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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.
 
wow i was playing tetris with my wife (nes original on emulator) last night for hours im addicted :banghead:
 
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.
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I agree.
Addiction requires altered brain chemistry.
I seriously doubt that gaming leads to altered brain chemistry :p

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.
 
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.
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QFT!!!
 
Well in my case, i am computer obsessed :P 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.
 
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.
 
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