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Three German scientists conducted a psychological survey of more than 15,000 ninth graders in which 3% of male and 0.3% of female students were found eligible for a diagnosis of Video Game Dependency (VGD).
The authors described students with VGD to have high levels of psychosocial stress including increased truancy, less sleeping hours, lower academic performance in school and less leisure activities. In addition, students also reported increased thoughts of committing suicide.
The study suggests VGD as a clinical phenomenon calling for further descriptive research. This is good news for those who play more often as VGD is considered by authors distinct from excessive playing!!!
Reference;
Florian Rehbein, Matthias Kleimann, Thomas Mößle. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. -Not available-, ahead of print. doi:10.1089/cpb.2009.0227.
There is growing appreciation of the term "behavioural addiction" amongst psychiatrists. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recently released its draft of the 5th edition of DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) which included for the first time the category "behavioural addiction"; gambling being the sole disorder included thus far. There was much debate as to whether "internet addiction" should be included as well. The decision was to include it in the appendix to stimulate future interest and research in that field.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, APA has invited the public to review and comment on the draft until the 20th of April. The final version is expected to be released in May 2013 after extensive clinical trials to validate the new diagnostic criteria.
Why not have a look at the draft yourself :)
www.dsm5.org
Thanks Ahmad - wasn't aware of the term 'behavioural addiction' until this moment. It is tricky to evaluate whether these aspects are normal deviations from the norm or truly a psychopathology. I think the best indicator is the extent of interference of behavioural addiction in the physical, psychological and social aspects of the individual's well-being. Nonetheless, I had a look at DSM draft - I think factitious disorders are really interesting, and then once again all of us pretend at some point to be ill so that we don't go to work. All of us did that to avoid going to school - however some people overdo it I guess, in which the case stands for a true psychiatric disturbance.
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