Psychiatrist urges that gaming addiction be recognized as a mental illness

Doctors are big on relying on their pedigrees to weigh their opinions as somehow more significant than those of the general public, but there are occasions in which their thoughts can hold some merit, no matter how depressing that merit may be. In this case, Dr. Jerald Block, a Portland psychiatrist, raises the issue in a recent editorial in this month's issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, in which he says he feels online addictions such as gaming, the internet and MySpace should be treated seriously by the psychatric community.

From the source:

"Like other addicts, users experience cravings, urges, withdrawal and tolerance, requiring more and better equipment and software, or more and more hours online... people can lose all track of time or neglect "basic drives," like eating or sleeping. Relapse rates are high and some people may need psychoactive medications or hospitalization."

Now, allow me to clarify that by feeling some agreement towards Dr. Block's statement, I am not in any way suggesting I agree that gaming as a whole should be instantly regarded as a direct source of mental illness. However, as recently evidenced by some disturbing footage floating around the net, some doctors feel that online and gaming addiction are a very real problem, and should be treated with as much care as a drug or food addiction would be.

Dr. Block hopes to see online addiction added into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which will be published in 2012. Surely after the recent tragedies in parts of Asia where kids died after spending obsessive amounts of time online, it's sure that people are keeping a close eye on the trend. Of course, people who prefer to blame games rather than the mental illness that was likely alive and well before the games were even discovered by the users are likely to trumpet about the topic, which is why this is always a problematic discussion no matter what the source.

[Via Canada.com - thanks, Jonathan]