WOW, this is insane!
Gaming is something you choose, it is not a disorder imo.
But it can become an addiction and if you are a game addict you need help, just as much as an alcoholic or a drug addict.
But calling it a mental disorder........
Makes me question the sanity of the people who deemed it such.
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You seem to hold contradicting views with those first few lines.
The disorder is more being highly succeptable to dependency, rather than being addicted to a specific thing. It's just that their weakness towards specific addictions can be uneven. One dependent-type may be particularly weak to alcohol but not smoking, and another the opposite, if that makes any sense? While addiction tends to heavily favor things that require intake (introducing something into the body that it does not produce naturally, some of which have naturally addictive properties), it's possible to have a similar kind of addiction to chemicals we produce on our own, but which we produce more of during specific activities (exercise, excitement, fear, pleasure). Excesses of any such thing, particularly when we rely on them to function, usually hints at something more severe that we are just using the substance to make up for.
It's not uncommon for a perfectly functional person to become addicted to external substance, but if you have a bad history and/or unresolved emotional issues, mental issues, or some kind of trauma, sometimes we develop unhealthy coping mechanisms and we can turn otherwise innocuous things into a form of crutch that the wounded mind/heart comes to rely on in a manner akin to chemical addiction. Just as a person can be a 'normal' gamer, fitness enthusiast, painter, runner, etc, it's possible for someone to use the same rushes caused by natural chemistry to mask or make up for something deeper, and devote an inordinate amount of time and effort to pursuing what should be a mere hobby, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, temporary injury, or lasting health detriment. Gamings physical risks are minimal in immediate impact, but to a 'flawed' (addiction-prone) mind, its an easy-access entertainment form usually with little moderation from others involved, with very little social or physical requirement, and can easily supplant other social needs for those who already have strong social anxiety or struggle to maintain normal function in life, y'know? An innocent medium that allows you direct input, and can give a consistent feedback of entertainment (but also vague 'rushes', a variety of emotional responses, some degree of actual social exposure in a safe environment, etc), it's great for people who engage with it at a healthy level, but if it starts to replace too much of your sleep, completely overrides important things you should be doing, and grows into a stonewall from actual relationships and socialising? Yeaah...
I mean I think it'd be weird if they made Gaming Disorder its own thing, but without actually reading the article I'm going to guess it will just be another subset of addictive personality-types, just as gambling addiction is a thing. Again, while gambling addiction isn't a chemical reliance, the rushes it can cause could gradually condition a specific dependence-prone mind so their typical functioning is all chewed up and they have a destructive neuro-chemical response. Is neuro-chemical even a term? Fucked if I know, I'm just hurting for word variety and I think it explained what I meant well enough, haha. :P
I'm sure the professionals behind it know what they're talking about, but I'm sure it'll have a lot of misinterpretation in common usage and a whole bunch of inappropriate self-diagnosis. Gaming disorder would almost certainly be a co-morbid thing that rarely occurs just on its own. I mean, hell, I could easily pass as having a gaming disorder, but my issues are deeper and more akin to social avoidance due to the stuff that is a side-effect of a badly handled major depression earlier in my life, y'know? My so-called 'gaming disorder' would actually be more a symptom of something else, with the actual videogaming being due to anhedonia towards most other things and being a convenient and less passive entertainment I can absorb while my social batteries recharge for my next clumsy effort to go out and not be a (complete) hermit.
Also holy jesus how did this post get so long.
I'm uh, post it now. :U
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Holy Moly, that certainly IS a long post!
And true, I haven't read the article.
So my response was solely based on the term "gaming disorder"
In hindsight, that might not have been wise.
Let's indeed hope it gets its place within a subset of addictive personality types, that would already make more sense
And yes, I am aware that some people are more prone to addiction than others, either through their genes or through their life experience and the coping skills they learned (or failed) to learn in early childhood.
If it comes to coping skills, I am somewhat flawed too.
The term "gaming disorder" just somehow triggers me (maybe that says something about me)
I am afraid it could become a diagnosis you can hide behind without looking at the context on how and when the gaming got out of hand
"I have a Gaming Disorder" to me, somehow suggest that games are the main problem and there lies my objection.
I totally agree that a history of unresolved emotional problems, bad coping mechanisms etc. might (or will) make you more prone to addiction.
If and when it is looked upon within this broader context and when getting the diagnosis of having a gaming disorder all these factors will be looked into as well and will be co-treated, then it becomes a whole different ball play.
Once something you used to choose becomes an addiction, you no longer do it out of your free will.
So that was bad wording on my side and indeed holds a contradiction.
Come to think of it, you spoke about Gambling addiction, that is a thing already.
But....it is called an addiction.
So why not call this a Gaming Addiction?
Why the Gaming Disorder?
Like you said: Gaming disorder would almost certainly be a co-morbid thing that rarely occurs just on its own.
But.....calling something a disorder, just puts the emphasis on it.
And what lies beneath the so called disorder might even be more important.
Maybe we shouldn't be nit picking on just the term.
But as long as we don't see how it is going to be used and phrased within the DSM criteria, we are kind of flying blind and are maybe making the wrong assumptions.
I won't say "we can only trust the professionals"
Cause I think we need to keep questioning the professionals.
I don't like the term Gaming Disorder.
But......a Gaming Disorder could be classified as a sub type of a Personality Disorder and Personality Disorders aren't set in stone either.
I have traits of Personality Disorders and they become more prone when under severe stress and/or being exhausted, then my coping mechanisms just aren't strong enough to counter balance that weakness.
Maybe this is the thought behind it here, that someone with a Gaming Disorder is more prone to the unhealthy aspects of gaming especially in periods of stress etc .But those are assumptions.
I can only hope that if/when a Gaming Disorder becomes a real diagnosis the whole person is treated and that not just the habits towards games is treated, because it is likely there are underlying problems.
Hope my post makes more sense now.
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Oh, yeah absolutely. I only just realised that the volume of my post of my post might have made it seem more hostile or pointed than I intended it to. My random-ass tangents are something to behold, and I just sort of used your post to springboard off into a separate one of my own. I didn't mean to seem like I was directing some kind of accusation back at you or something. Though in hindsight, my first sentence may have set the tone badly, oof.
But yeah the naming convention of it does make it seem less credible on the surface, and you're right on the money with always questioning professionals. I still find it quite vexing how medical stuff is a private business model in America, given the kinds of profit-driven attitudes such a thing could give rise to. That alone should be my reminder to keep a few pinches of salt handy at any given time, even with systems that feel more reliable. Ultimately power only tends to serve itself and all that.
Sorry if I came off half-cocked or prickly there, my bad. I'm more just surprised you read my whole wall of text and furthered the thoughts with your own!
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No worries, you gave me food for thought and I seldom run from a good discussion.
Having the salt pinches ready here too.
In my country health insurance companies basically call the shots, so maybe not that far off from America.
Here you get the therapy that is covered by your health insurance and often that is not the one that would benefit you most, which is equally frustrating to both health care professionals and clients/patients.
Same goes for medication, you get what is covered by insurance.
Because of the fact that health became an industry of sorts the pharmaceutical industry and the health care insurances have a big say in what goes or what not.
Like said: that's worrisome and frustrating for health care professionals and patients alike.
So: YES: by all means let's keep dem salt pinches at hand, we will need them from time to time!
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Most everyone is addicted to something, but addiction isn't the same thing as a disorder. One can have a disorder that makes them more likely to be addicted to something - OCD, for example - but addiction isn't a disease. I'm not saying that video game addiction - or any addiction, for that matter - isn't a problem, but this seems a little melodramatic, or maybe just a step toward a greater melodrama.
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It strikes me as strange to separate this out as a 'gaming disorder' when it may be more accurate to underline it as a sub-type of anhedonia and bad coping mechanisms. That said, gaming is an engaging form of recreation often with quick positive (enjoyment) feedback that only has the requirements of owning access and having the time. People with poor coping strategies, limited mobility/immunity, etc would naturally be more predisposed to excessive gaming. Perhaps it is more a target for categorisation as a disorder over other home entertainment (hobbyist building, TV, reading, etc) because we can directly give it input and typically get a faster and stronger reward as a result, whereas TV and reading are more passive and tend to be less erratic, intense and thoroughly attention-holding as a result?
I haven't really looked into the health categorisation, but it may be sort of like how Aspergers was previously a stand-alone entry despite being a subset of autism, only to later be kind of declassified as it was integrated into the autism index more closely. Gaming disorder may just be a subset of addictive coping personality stuff, and more a descriptive flavour for focus in passing. Saying "I have a gambling disorder" is quicker and more informative than using a whole-cloth term that covers obsessive coping strategies or weak impulse control towards a specific form of such recreation. People may belittle or joke about the terminology, but forget it applies to such things as alcoholism, where technically it is a 'mere' matter of willpower, but realistically it goes into psychological stuff and dependence problems nearly always stemming from some other, deeper issue.
As always, the difference between dependence and conscious-but-heavy use of something can seem blurry, but while people understand addiction to even 'mild' chemical substance and can scoff at the idea of recreation remotely comparing to it, we often forget how potent the naturally occurring chemistry within our brains can be. Psychological patterning can be a crazy labyrinth to escape from.
Of course this will probably cause a lot of false self-diagnosis (where it would be more accurate to say "this is my primary form of entertainment and other things don't often interest me"), I'm sure there are some who would benefit to realise that their needy/weakened state of mind has begun using the innocent medium as a crutch to a severely unhealthy degree. The problem is that in such a realisation, you need to then address the base cause AND ween yourself off those crutches, or nothing changes and the diagnosis is for nothing. Worse yet, if you are a dependent-type you have to be careful not to replace one addiction with another, and often be specifically on guard against your old poison of choice. Some can fully recover and then return to it in stark moderation, but others just completely relapse at the first familiar exposure.
I'm sure in time the rough edges and any hyperbole will be smoothed out of Gaming Disorder. The issue is rarely the professionals who come to these conclusions though, but all the amateur onlookers who exaggerate it and use it to their own ends. I have to wonder if there are terms used for Working Disorder though, which would seem to be equally destructive in action (with just as much potential for diminished social function, similar sleep exhaustion, but hopefully more official safeguards to save them from themselves).
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"Action games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto have been found to deplete a key memory centre in the brain called the hippocampus."
I get so tired of the way media outlets cherry pick facts, oversimplify information (turning it into disinformation) and parrot each other's stories. I looked for some actual research and found a link to a study (I posted on the other thread), that makes it clear that this finding is very much dependent on how these games are played (eg "response learning" vs. "spatial learning") and even suggests that these effects can be ameliorated by some simple changes in the games' mechanics.
Here's the link with some actual information - also other gaming research found here
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"Parents may want to keep a closer eye on teenagers glued to their video games consoles.
The World Health Organisation will include ‘gaming disorder’ in its international list of illnesses for the first time next year.
After a decade of monitoring computer gaming, the organisation has decided to classify some excessive players as having a mental health condition.
The draft wording of its diagnostic manual says someone has a gaming disorder if ‘gaming takes precedence over other life interests’. The unhealthy behaviour will have had to continue for at least a year before diagnosis is confirmed.
The draft wording of its diagnostic manual says someone has a gaming disorder if ‘gaming takes precedence over other life interests’. The unhealthy behaviour will have had to continue for at least a year before diagnosis is confirmed
The agency has not listed other conditions linked to technology, such as so-called smartphone or internet addiction, due to a lack of evidence they are ‘real disorders’.
However the New Scientist quoted Vladimir Poznyak, at the WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse as saying: ‘Health professionals need to recognise that gaming disorder may have serious health consequences.
‘Most people who play video games don’t have a disorder, just like most people who drink alcohol don’t have a disorder either. However, in certain circumstances overuse can lead to adverse effects.’
The WHO said gaming disorder is wider than just video gaming disorder, it will be a subset in its International Classification of Diseases, which was last updated in 1990.
Estimates of the proportion of computer game players who have a problem range from 0.2 per cent to one in five.
The draft wording of the gaming disorder entry also states that sufferers will continue to game even when it leads to ‘negative consequences’.
There have been calls for official recognition of shopping disorder, workaholic disorder and ‘binge-watching disorder’ in recent years.
However a digital report out earlier this month warned children need more education about the risk of technology and protection from ‘auto-play’ functions on computer games which keep them playing by automatically moving to the next level, so that they are less likely to stop.
Action games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto have been found to deplete a key memory centre in the brain called the hippocampus."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5200461/Gaming-disorder-added-mental-health-condition-WHO.html
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