Video Game Addiction & Gaming Addiction Treatment
Video Game Addiction & Our Obsession With Technology
Video game addiction isn’t the first thing people think of when they think about addiction. Instead, it is a person who is abusing drugs and/or alcohol. However, an addiction that needs a lot more attention than it gets is internet addiction/video game addiction. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not currently include video games as an addiction or a disorder but lists it in the section recommending conditions for further research and calls it internet gaming disorder. This means that further research is needed before they will decide to consider it a disorder/addiction.
Sure, you may not think that playing video games or spending time on the internet is as harmful as taking a drug or drinking alcohol, but it can be just as damaging in a lot of ways.
The games people play the most and may get addicted to the most are Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG), such as World of Warcraft. People start playing these games, and their lives get consumed by this alternate reality.
Many people who meet the criteria for gaming addictions are playing these games for the same reason that drug addicts and alcoholics drink and use drugs. To them, it feels good, and it is an escape. A computer gaming addiction allows them to take on a new persona and become anything and anyone they want to. It enables them to ignore everyday responsibilities and not have to deal with the problems they may have in their ‘real’ life.
Signs & Symptoms of Video Game Addiction
Simply measuring the amount of time a person spends playing a video game is not the only thing that needs to be looked at when trying to figure out if there is an addiction to games. What is the function of the video game? Is it simply fun, or is it to escape something and form another reality? Is it interfering with important everyday activities? What are the negative consequences, and is this person continuing to play video games despite these negative consequences?
The following are the most common signs & symptoms of video game addiction:
- Playing video games despite suffering negative consequences due to gaming
- Thinking about gaming all day
- Ignoring responsibilities – around the house, at school, with family – because you are playing video games instead (or you’re unable to fulfill these responsibilities for another reason relating to your video game usage)
- The need to play more and more often or for longer periods of time in order to feel fulfilled
- Restlessness or irritability when you’re unable to play
- Lying about your video game use
- Isolating yourself from others in order to play video games
- Poor personal hygiene
- Migraines
- Insomnia
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
There is a lot of controversy about whether or not video game addiction is really an addiction or not. Sure, it is not listed in the DSM yet, but does that make it any less harmful? My feeling is that it doesn’t matter what you want to call it – a lot of people have a problem when it comes to the internet or video games, and it is not being taken seriously enough.
People either don’t believe that addiction to video games exists, or the people around them don’t believe it, so they ignore the negative consequences of their video game use. I know many people who consider themselves to have a gaming addiction and are trying to abstain, just like drug addicts and alcoholics try to abstain from drugs and alcohol. To me, it is very much the same as any other addiction.
Many Asian countries are starting to recognize how serious video game addiction is. There have been deaths resulting from blood clots that occur when someone sits in front of the computer for too long without getting up. To me, this is the equivalent of a drug overdose.
When someone is addicted to a drug, they often use as much of it as possible and as fast as possible. Their priorities are using the drug – they don’t care about eating, sleeping, or being healthy in any manner.
Once they have used too much of it and their body cannot handle it anymore, they may overdose. How is someone sitting on a computer playing a video game until they die ANY different than a drug overdose? It is a person who cannot stop playing the game, no matter what the consequences are.
Help With Video Game Addiction
Around 2009, the first treatment center for internet addiction and rehab for video game addiction opened in the United States. It is called reSTART, and it is located in Washington. The reSTART Program was developed to help people who have become dependent on or addicted to technology. The program helps people break their cycle of addiction and dependency on the internet, video games, and other technology.
At reSTART, a 45-day program is offered. The program promotes abstinence and attempts to reintroduce the person with life skills that they may have been neglecting because of excessive computer/game and technology usage. When people are involved in this program, they are encouraged to figure out some of the underlying issues that may have started gaming addiction in the first place. Some of these underlying issues may include depression, divorce, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, etc.
This sounds a lot like drug and alcohol rehab. We should all treat video game addiction in a very similar way as other addictions. Video game addicts should not be embarrassed to admit they have a problem or be ashamed of asking for help. If you have a problem with video games or the internet, or ANYTHING else for that matter, you SHOULD ask for help! Someone else has likely been through whatever it is that you are struggling with. Game addiction rehab is now available, and it’s no disgrace to need it.
There are places you can go for help with addiction to online gaming and people you can talk to. Whether people consider your problem to be a ‘real addiction’ or not is pretty meaningless, in my opinion. If there is something that you cannot stop doing and it is interfering with your life, get the gaming addiction help you need.
If you have any questions about video game addiction or internet addiction treatment or have any video game addiction stories to share, please don’t hesitate to submit them. We all need to get involved in creating more awareness of this problem.