The APA and Video Game “Addiction”

The newswires were abuzz today regarding the upcoming AMA vote on whether video games “addiction” (what I prefer to call overuse) should be classified as a psychiatric disorder. Recall that the AMA set up a subcommittee to study the research on video game overuse last year, and the results were presented this year. Official psychiatric disorders are listed in the DSM, which is administered by the APA. Typically, the APA takes the AMA’s recommendations to heart, so it was disheartening to me as well as other educational video game advocates that the APA is poised to officially recommend a new disorder called Internet/video game addiction.

The first article is from the Sun-Sentinal newspaper in Florida. Linda Shrieves begins with a catchy opening:

So you think your teenager is addicted to his Xbox?

You may be right — and if the American Medical Association has its way, video game addiction could become a legitimate medical condition.

Shrieves gives both sides, and quotes Steve Jones, a communications prof over at Illinois and a researcher with Pew. He claims to be a video game “addiction” skeptic (though I’ve never met Dr. Jones, right off the bat I can say he has excellent judgment). His key statement:

“Just because any activity might interfere with other activities is not enough to call it an addiction.”

The second big article to hit the newswires is by Lindsey Tanner from the AP, and was picked up by USA Today. Here is the (rather breathless) opening:

The telltale signs are ominous: teens holing up in their rooms, ignoring friends, family, even food and a shower, while grades plummet and belligerence soars.

The culprit isn’t alcohol or drugs. It’s video games, which for certain kids can be as powerfully addictive as heroin, some doctors contend.

Heroin? With all due respect to Tanner, equating a game with one of the most powerful narcotics in the world is, frankly, irresponsible. Tanner points out Online Gamers Anonymous, which offers a traditional 12 Step program.

Tanner does report both sides, though, ending with comments by two psychiatrists who maintain that separate diagnoses for obsessive gamers are unnecessary. The article ends with a quote from Michael Brody over at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:

“You could make lots of behavioral things into addictions. Why stop at video gaming?” Brody asked. Why not Blackberries, cellphones, or other irritating habits, he said.

The reader comments for this online article are pretty good, and well worth wading through (up to 4 pages at this writing), with plenty of fodder for both sides of the debate.

Let’s hope that over at the APA cooler heads prevail, and video game “addiction” is not added as a disorder to the DSM. Heck, let’s hope the AMA doesn’t vote to recommend this in the first place. Goodness knows, if a person spends way too much time playing games, something else is wrong with them.

References

Shrieves, L. (2007, June 21). AMA to vote on “internet/video-game addiction” as medical condition. [Online]. Available:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flasands0621nbjun21,0,771832.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla

Tanner, L. (2007, June 21). Video games: A psychiatric disorder? [Online]. Available:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-06-21-video-game-addiction_N.htm?csp=34