Videogames May Not Be an Addiction

Are videogames addicting? Not so, according to a proposal by the American Psychiatric Association.

The American Psychiatric Association is in the process of releasing the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For the first time ever, it has opened the proposals to review and suggestion online. Among the proposed changes is the removal or reclassification of a number of Impulse-Control Disorders, among them an addiction to gambling and the category under which videogames would potentially fall.

The proposed changes would eliminate the category for “Non-Substance Addictions” entirely, creating a different, blanket category to encompass anything from videogames to sex to rock and roll. Addiction would further be classified in relation to actual addictive substances such as drugs and alcohol.

This change would mean there is no psychological differentiation between an addiction to videogames and an addiction to gambling.

If nothing else, it’s a positive step for the gaming community. Now we can say we lack impulse control when we stay up all night playing videogames, not that we’re addicted to them.

For more information and to give feedback on the American Psychiatric Association’s proposed changes, you can visit its website.

Source: Associated Press via Gamepro