Tech Shout!

Controversies surrounding video games are perhaps as old as Adam and Eve. While some gamers are addicted and obsessed with them, some others know where to draw the line. But for the former half there’s some alarming piece of news, as they may perhaps be (or may be not) considered as beings suffering from mental disorder.

In the series of debates surrounding around the fact that ‘is addiction to playing video games, a mental disorder’ there has been one significant one that’s surfaced lately. A debate at the American Medical Association’s annual meeting had doctors discussing on a controversial proposal to delegate video game addiction as a mental disorder similar to alcoholism.

But all the same, some gamers (and probably parents more importantly) can breathe a sigh of relief as in the debate it was finally concluded that video game addiction is not a mental disorder psychiatrists should put in some more study on this topic. As expected, the idea was met with a strong opposition from the addiction experts. They have called for more studies to be conducted on the excessive use of video and online games. At present, it has been concluded that this problem affects a mere ten percent of the gamers.

According to Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, “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.”

In an interview conducted, Dr. Louis Kraus of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and a psychiatrist at Rush University Medical Center voiced his opinion by stating, “It’s not necessarily a cause-and-effect type issue. There may be certain kids who have a compulsive component to what they are doing. The more time kids spend on video games, the less time they will have socializing, the less time they will have with their families, the less time they will have exercising. They can make up academic deficits, but they can’t make up the social ones.”

For video game addiction to be finally proclaimed as a ‘mental disorder,’ it would need the final recommendation of AMA’s 555 voting delegates, who will cast their votes on the matter later this week.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents the thirty billion global video game industry, has also ordered further research on this issue. But if video game addiction is given the status of mental disorder, then it would alleviate the path for insurance coverage.

While occasional use of video games is harmless and may in fact even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working and even basic activities like showering and eating.