Level 8-2 and Only 3 Lives Left! I CAN’T Go to School, Mom!

Here’s an interesting piece of news for you to chew on this weekend.

A leading council of the nation’s largest doctors’ group wants to have this behavior officially classified as a psychiatric disorder, to raise awareness and enable sufferers to get insurance coverage for treatment.

What behavior is that? Video game addiction.

The article, Video game addiction: A new diagnosis?, is vague about the members of this council, but goes on to read:

In a report prepared for the American Medical Association’s annual policy meeting starting Saturday in Chicago, the council asks the group to lobby for the disorder to be included in a widely used mental illness manual created and published by the American Psychiatric Association. AMA delegates could vote on the proposal as early as Monday.

To me, the “symptoms” described certainly seem indicative of a problem: antisocial behavior with friends and family, lack of interest in food and personal hygiene, declining school performance, and apathy.

But is an addiction to video games itself an actual mental illness?

Where, oh where, have the days gone of two innocent Italian brothers taking time off from their busy plumbing careers to save a beautiful princess from Bowser, King of the Koopas?

Not according to Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital psychiatrist Dr. Karen Pierce. Dr. Pierce states that at least two of all patients she sees in a week are there because they “play video games excessively.”

“I saw somebody this week who hasn’t been to bed, hasn’t showered … because of video games,” she said. “He is really a mess.”

However, Pierce makes it clear that she treats these situations as any other problem with addiction and doesn’t think a separate mental health diagnosis for video game addiction is necessary, which makes the head of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry TV and media committee happy.

Brody “praised the AMA council for bringing attention to the problem, but said excessive video-game playing could be a symptom for other things, such as depression or social anxieties that already have their own diagnoses.”

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

I, for one, agree wholeheartedly with Pierce and Brody. There are entirely too many things in this world to which people become addicted for each one to be classified as a separate mental illness and included in this manual by the AMA.

Some people have addictive personality types. Maybe these kids do. Or, maybe something else is going on. I highly doubt, however, that it’s a whole new breed of mental illness. What this council is blatantly overlooking – surprisingly – is the underlying causes of such an addiction. Instead of creating a new mental illness so they can diagnosis someone, why not try to find out why the person became addicted and work on that?

Any thoughts?

Addiction support groups, random addition information, and other resources you may find interesting:

On-Line Gamers Anonymous
The Center for Online Addiction – eBay
John Daly Now Addicted To Chewing Gum
I’m Addicted to Clear Eyes