Video Game Addiction Disorder

For some time now, psychologists have sugggested that video game addiction should be officially recognised as a psychiatric disorder. Addiction experts site the fact that gaming addicts exhibit the four hallmarks of addiction:
  1. They are unable to control the amount of time spent playing games
  2. The increasing dominance of gaming in a person's life
  3. The compulsion to play the game, and
  4. Psychological behaviors such as withdrawal and an increasing need for a bigger thrill
Like other addiction, there are likely to be co-existing disorders with game addiction. Three-quarters of all addictions have some other form of psychiatric problems. In one extreme case a 28-year-old South Korean man died of heart failure after playing a computer game for 50 hours straight.

Not surprisingly, video game-makers have previously scoffed at ideas that their games can cause psychiatric disorders. Part of the issue is related to parental control. Parents need to be mindful and not use game machines as a easy form of babysitting.

It's the same as any addiction: just because people gamble it doesn't mean they are addicted. It's only 5 to 10 per cent of people who use video games are addicted.

In 2006, the world's first game addiction clinic was opened in the Netherlands and was overwhelmed with pleas for help from throughout the world. Located in Amsterdam, the gaming detox clinic has already saved 20 plus gamers from wasting their lives in front of a television screen. They first start the treatment by making the addicties confess that they have no control of playing video games. Then they separate the gamers away from their games. While in this stage some of the gamers taken the detox have actually had withdrawal symptoms like sweating when they see a game controller.

One common mistake that people make is giving themselves easy access to their games. Don't give yourself easy access, get rid of the games that get you hooked so then you have a reason not to play. It may sound hard for someone to throw their sixty dollar game away but it’s better to have a life than to spend it in front of a TV.

What parents can do to prevent their kids from becoming addicts is to keep watch on the amount of time that their kids play. Every second of their spare time should not be on their gaming console.

References
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Randi Fredricks is a Naturopathic Psychotherapist with a Doctorate in Naturopathy and a Masters in Psychology. She counsels clients at her office in San Jose, California. You can reach Randi at 408-315-0645 or contact her online. This article may be taken partially or in whole from Randi Fredricks' book Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Mental Health. Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems.


















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