Gold prices steady with slight gains on Tuesday    Egyptian pound ends Tuesday lower against US dollar – CBE    Egypt to tighten waste rules, cut rice straw fees to curb pollution    Egypt seeks Indian expertise to boost pharmaceutical industry    Egypt's PM heads to Japan for TICAD 9 Africa development summit    National Council for Childhood reviews plan to combat child labour    Egypt's Supreme Organ Transplant Committee strengthens oversight, standards    African agribusiness market expected to reach $1tr by 2030    Price cuts underway across Egypt, says trade federation report    Serbia's Vucic vows 'tough measures' against protesters after unrest    Zelenskyy seeks US security guarantees as Trump says he can 'end war now'    Israelis protest for hostage deal amid growing pressure on Netanyahu    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt delivers over 30 million health services through public hospitals in H1 2025    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



SCI TECH SCENE: Is video game addiction a psychiatric disorder?
Published in Daily News Egypt on 22 - 06 - 2007


US doctors report seeks to declare it one
Associated Press
CHICAGO: 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 is not alcohol or drugs. It is video games, which for certain kids can be as powerfully addictive as heroin, some doctors contend.
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.
In a report prepared for the American Medical Association s (AMA) 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.
It likely will not happen without heated debate. Video game makers scoff at the notion that their products can cause a psychiatric disorder. Even some mental health experts say labeling the habit a formal addiction is going too far.
Dr. James Scully, the psychiatric association s medical director, said the group will seriously consider the AMA report in the long process of revising the diagnostic manual. The current manual was published in 1994; the next edition is to be completed in 2012.
Up to 90 percent of American youngsters play video games and as many as 15 percent of them - more than 5 million kids - may be addicted, according to data cited in the AMA council s report.
Joyce Protopapas of Frisco, Texas, said her 17-year-old son, Michael, was a video game addict. Over nearly two years, video and internet games transformed him from an outgoing, academically gifted teen into a reclusive manipulator who flunked two 10th grade classes and spent several hours day and night playing a popular online video game called World of Warcraft.
My father was an alcoholic ... and I saw exactly the same thing in Michael, Protopapas said. We battled him until October of last year, she said. We went to therapists, we tried taking the game away. He would threaten us physically. He would curse and call us every name imaginable, she said. It was as if he was possessed. When she suggested to therapists that Michael had a video game addiction, nobody was familiar with it, she said.
They all pooh-poohed it. Last fall, the family found a therapist who told us he was addicted, period. They sent Michael to a therapeutic boarding school, where he has spent the past six months - at a cost of $5,000 monthly that insurance will not cover, his mother said.
A support group called On-Line Gamers Anonymous has numerous postings on its website from gamers seeking help.
Liz Woolley, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, created the site after her 21-year-old son fatally shot himself in 2001 while playing an online game she says destroyed his life.
In a February posting, a 13-year-old identified only as Ian told of playing video games for nearly 12 hours straight, said he felt suicidal and wondered if he was addicted.
I think I need help, the boy said.
Postings also come from adults, mostly men, who say video game addiction cost them jobs, family lives and self-esteem.
According to the report prepared by the AMA s Council on Science and Public Health, based on a review of scientific literature, dependence-like behaviors are more likely in children who start playing video games at younger ages. Overuse most often occurs with online role-playing games involving multiple players, the report says.
Blizzard Entertainment s teen-rated, monster-killing World of Warcraft is among the most popular. A company spokesman declined to comment on whether the games can cause addiction.
Dr. Martin Wasserman, a pediatrician who heads the Maryland State Medical Society, said the AMA proposal will help raise awareness and called it the right thing to do. But Michael Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association, said the trade group sides with psychiatrists who agree that this so-called video-game addiction is not a mental disorder.
The American Medical Association is making premature conclusions without the benefit of complete and thorough data, Gallagher said.
Dr. Karen Pierce, a psychiatrist at Chicago s Children s Memorial Hospital, said she sees at least two children a week who 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. She said she treats it like any addiction and creating a separate diagnosis is unnecessary.
Dr. Michael Brody, head of a TV and media committee at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, agreed. He 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.
On the Net: On-Line Gamers Anonymous: http://www.olganon.org


Clic here to read the story from its source.