From The Washington Post:An addiction center is opening Europe's first detox clinic for game addicts, offering in-house treatment for people who can't leave their joysticks alone.
Video games may look innocent, but they can be as addictive as gambling or drugs _ and just as hard to kick, says Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants.
Bakker already has treated 20 video game addicts, aged 13 to 30, since January. Some show withdrawal symptoms, such as shaking and sweating, when they look at a computer.
I think the manufacturers make these video games to be addictive. After all, they want you to play their game- a lot. I think that in some cases they have done too good of a job at it, and then we have an addiction. While perhaps not as bad as an addiction to heroin or cigarettes, this can be quite destructive to these folks in the end. Perhaps we'll need a Video Gamer's Anonymous at some point if this keeps up.
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23 comments:
Will Dr. Bakker be opening a clinic for those who find themselves returning to places of worship week after week? How about people who read a lot? People who eat the same candy every day? People who find themselves addicted to newspapers? Hey, maybe there should be detox clinics for anyone who doesn't devote themselves entirely to small talk and job performance.
Take World of Warcraft as an example. It's like crack to some people. Losing their jobs, consuming their life for raiding or just to play. I actually know people who get home from work or school and get straight on their and stay up days at a time playing.
Take any example, add a cliche and hear-say and you have a fact, right?
Yes some people have issues with games, granted. Majority of gamers do not however, that includes the WoW community.
Look at it this way. Say i wake up at 8 AM and go to work/school. Get off roughly around 4, eat, relax for a bit. At 6 i turn on the pc and play it untill 10 to 12 am. Thats 4-6 hours out of a 24h day.
Lets think about TV. I know there are people out there who never turn off their TV, some watch up to 14 hours a day... Not to mention i'm betting yourself is a victim of TV.
How about gambling? I mean thats a wonderous hobby instead of video gaming. Drugs? Alcohol? Getting ripped every night at a bar?
Video 'Gamery' pales in comparison, no?
How about 'normal harmless' hobbies... like bottlecap collecting, stamp collecting, gardening (i've seen ladies at that stuffs for 24.6 hours a day)?
My point is this...
Humans hate to blame themselves for such embarrassing things ( I.E. Losing a job because you are too immeresed into a game) and like to blame other factors... yet NOT THEMSELVES. Its not 'video games'... its the people playing them.
No video game caused these epople to be 'messed up' or 'suffer withdrawal symptoms'. They simply didn't know when to say when, They lost control... not because of a video game but because of their OWN ERROR.
Anyone who believes Video Games to be addictive is correct. Yet so is television, music, as is all other forms of 'media'. How can you put one on the same pedistal as alcoholism
Anyone who believes that games are a personal threat... needs to look at the people playing the game... and stop pinning the goddamned blame on a inanimate object like World Of Warcraft / Final Fantasy Online / Lineage / EQ / {Insert-whichever-MMO-here}.
"I know some guy that played a game called everquest and his mmo-friend betrayed him so he killed himself IN REAL LIFE"
(this is probably a story someone is going to mention, just cutting you off at the pass)
First off, that 'dude' wasn't all there in the head.. secondly, he was a class-A loser and finally... anyone who tends to lean to suicidal thoughts over a video game should locate the nearest bottle of bleach and enjoy.
IN conclusion, Use your brain.
Well, thats a incredibly brutal attitude.
You state all the way through that it is the person addicted to gaming that is at fault and not the games themselves. Fair enough, I see your point. But surely, the same is true about Alcohol, Drugs (to a certain extent) and Gambling. It is not the vices themselves that are at fault, it is the person who has an ADDICTIVE PERSONALITY. Do you treat an alcoholic and a drug addict in the same manner? Do you advise them to hit a bottle of bleach also? Or, do you treat their addiction according to their symptoms? Do you specialise their treatment so you can help that person who has a problem, more effctively?
Opening a Gamers Addiction clinic may cause people to blame the video games just as many zealots blame alcohol for alcoholism.
But, essentially, isn't this clinic just about helping people? Treating addicts like human beings instead of calling them "class a losers".
the person who says playing 4-6 hours a day is not so bad is quite mistaken. Playing on a computer/video game for that long every day is actually really unhealthy. Just because someone else watches tv for 14 hours a day does not make your case any better, it just makes it worse for the other person. Although some people consider it harmless, I have to disagree with that as well, as it can cause several bodily disorders, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, and visual disorders. See unfortunately a computer screen is not a natural object, and it emits rays that are bad for your eyes. I know this having had many lectures from my brother (a doctor) because I work in the I.T. field and used to be an avid gamer(your 4-6 hours a day would fit my profile). Also, playing 4-6 hours a day means that you are not getting the proper exercise and fresh air needed by people every day, which adds to the unhealthyness. Now I admit that it is not necessarily as bad as drugs or alcohol, but it can be compared similarly because unfortunately games are addictive. I have to agree with the person who posted just before me, as it is more about helping people become people again, instead of "class a losers". And to be honest, having played enough video games, I was classified as a "class a loser" for playing that amount of video games (not because i am pshycotic, although i am seeing a therapist) until i became heavily addicted to marijuana for 3 years. It is only after I realised what I had become that this all clicked for me, so I think that some of your arguments are completely ignorant.
I've played WoW (world of warcraft) and man it gets addictive! You can play for 10 h in a row. It is not healthy!
Very bad to your sistem. The problem is that some people don't know when to stop or they don't get bored?! After about 1 month of intense playing I was done with WoW. But thats because I played almost every game that has been produced. Now there is hardly a game that can keep me more than 2 h in front of the PC.
But for a newcomer in the gaming industry, oh my he can stay 24h a day in front of the PC and still wanna play.
In the end its all up to each person. What's more important playing your game or going out with your family or friends?
"What's more important playing your game or going out with your family or friends?"
Hard decision....
after reading all of these arguments, the one consistent variable on which an action can lead to addiction has become time. most, but not all, of these comments seem to suggest that after a certain period of time, one can become addicted to something. i.e., after 4-6 hours one might not be addicted, but a repeated 10-14h a day is a definite sign, and days straight at a time is an obbsessive addiction, etc. this is a false assumption simple because with drugs that create strong chemical/physical dependencies like herione, all it takes is one usuage to become completely addicted, no matter what the dosage.
what the initial article suggests to me is new studies from UK doctors and therapists suggest that the essence of addiction lies more deeply rooted within the human pysche and not chemical/physical dependency or choice. to that, i simply say "no Duh." the idea of having an "addicitive personality" is much more than just being prone to liking things that cause chemical dependencies, whether that chemical is endorphine, doppamine, or alcohol, marijunana, cocaine, etc... every human BODY has a certain level of dependency towards endorphine and doppamine, since those two chemicals are manufactured naturally in the brain and every body requires a different amount to remain balanced, and thus at their peak strength to avoid malicious addictions. Considering that eating, sleeping, and breathing are all essentially beneign addictions but in excess become disorders and not addictions, then there must be a break in psychological and or physical "balance points" before something totally normal can become a problem. this is suggesting that one's physical condition makes one more or less prone to addiction. think about it; 10-14 hours doing anything non-physical will retard your metabolism and alter your biopsyiology. when i was terribly depressed, i found that i lost a significant amount of weight, found myslef easily bruised (iron deficiency), easily addicted to chemicals and drugs, i sweated excessively and often shook while calm. All body systems are connected, and we are just recently learning about what these systems are and how they're connected (the last ~500 years has been host to the most significant finds in modern medicine, the most important ones being within the past 150 years). Although i had the will power to suppress my addictions, since most of my friends at the time were of absolutely no help, the depression was something i had to cure through other means.
addictions are very tricky, since the pysiological cause for them is simply an "inbalance" and not a direct cause. There are simply too many variables to narrow it down to a simple "if" than "else" scenario on a general scale. This private UK clinic will make a killing on rich people, simply because with the right marketing, anything will succeed. On the not-so-rich, once they lose their job and they're forced to pawn their entertainment center to pay the rent/mortgage/utility bill/etc, well, that'll cure that addiction... at least for the amount of time it'll take them to get cleaned up, find a new job and save up to buy a new one...
In my personal opinion, the human body and mind as designed to do what it needs. It only can do what it wants to do and what it doesn't want to do within moderation. Now moderation is a an extensive range, simply because the human mind has an extensive potential and capability. Although 4-6 hours of the same enjoyable task to john q public may seem excessive, the einstiens of the world think any amount of time that the body can handle to achieve perfection is the norm. although this attitude may promote addiction, the society in which we live promotes certain addictions and demotes others. althought that's the way it is, we have the choice to determine our good habits and addictions and our bad habits and addictions. like this last comment post suggests, just make a choice.
Personally, I think this video game rehab clinic is a load of crap, really. I don't even like video games, and haven't played any since i was a "pothead" my freshman year of college. Once i dropped from a 3.5 average to a 3.2, the pot, video games, and TV dissa-fuckin-peared. therefore, i feel if a person can get addicted to a damn video game, then there's a deeper problem they need to address.
what are you supposed to do when you have no friends and family, video gaming and drugs are the only thing that keeps me going and I'll gladly introduce my fist to the face of anyone who wants to rid me of my addiction
all you fools trying to defend your addiction are stupider then you know. I used to play videogames constantly like all day. it's not healthy. For the person who doesn't think it's a problem to play 6 hours a day what the hell is wrong with you? you wake up go to school come home spend TWO hours realaxing and then the rest of your day is video games that's not normal behavior. How about you get some friends or god forbid it a girlfriend and actualy do something with your life. at least drug addicts and alcholoics go out and socialilze with people. And no, your cs clan or your entorage or what ever faggy term they use in WoW does not count as friends or socilizing. if you seriously spend all of your free time playing games you are fucked up. and as a final note to the guy with no friends about how he's introduce his fist to the persons face. I'm about 85% sure anybody who would be trying to stop you from playing and sees why it's a problem would kick the living shit out of you if you tried.
How about working 8 hours a day? Just because you have to, does it make it any different?
How about doing ANYTHING 8 hours a day? You think that's healthy?
Whatever you do, it can always be considered too much depending on perspective.
The only difference is, if you can stop when you want to, or it has taken over your free will. That's the thin line between hobbies and addictions.
Ok, Gaming isn't harsh. It can't be compared to other 'serious' addictions because it simply is NOT serious.
Granted certain people take things to the extreme, hence why this clinic opening up... but to denounce all gaming? C'mon now children, stop being mindless.
Although a gamer spends alot of time in front of the PC, they aren't intoxicated, they can obviously operate and function well. Maybe a little anti-social but who does that hurt? So quick to judge...
Heck, i remember my 'glory days' of sitting around campfires playing cutthroat 45s, German Poker and Asshole (card games) and im sure weve done that 5 days a week, 12 hours a day...
As for online gamers having no 'friends', I have a son who plays World Of Warcraft and he also has a program that allows him to speak to others VIA Voice.
Now to abolish the 'myth' that he has no real life friends or does anything with himself, he is also starting goalie in his senior hockey team and currently is involved. Gamers are NOT losers and he is proof.
He has quite a collection of Guildies there whom he is quite social with and friendly, so the 'Gaming is anti-social' statement is incorrect.
(Although I tend to hear him scream 'noob!' and 'minus D K P' alot... pretty vicious)
Yes I know they aren't beside him in the flesh... but they are NOT inhuman. They are actual human beings speaking and playing with him, not Artificial Intelligence.
4-6 hours a day? thats not alot at all considering most of these hypocritical posters absorb themselves in other 'said' activities for a longer period of time, keep your gaming and let the lies come in full circle...
As for this guy "how about you get some friends or god forbid it a girlfriend and actualy do something with your life. at least drug addicts and alcholoics go out and socialilze with people."
You sir, have some serious issues. I'm even betting your the type to think you are 'superior' and they are 'inferior'... gotta love that method of thought, like taking advice from tree stump. Maybe you need a hug?
All in all, i'd rather my son doing well, having fun, and living his life the way he wants. If he wants to spend 4 hours after school on his ass playing a video game? sure.
It would be alot better then what most children are doing nowadays.
LOL Alcoholics don't socialize... they get behind wheels and run into children.
Nub.
Alot of you are talking about gaming as if its some horrible thing to like. Its the same thing as some one liking a sport or to read. And gaming isn't always one person sitting in front of his computer. Games can bring people together too. Take Halo for instance. Halo players don't sit at home playing single player over and over, thats not what made the game great. People get together to play multiplayer.
You can be addicted to a substance. You can't be addicted to video games or pornography. Those are not addictions, your just a sad sad excuse for a human being.
Hey all the names Roonast
and im pro when it comes to games
See the problem i see here is very biased comments
ill have no shame in admitting that my comment is going to be biased but thats because i support the other end of what you 90% support
I support video games, i find them fun, learning and involving games. Take counterstrike, teaches you to play in a team, it teaches you values to get each others back and yeah it teaches you to be pretty mean with an M4A1 but hey i can operate in a team, you see the people that are against gaming are clearly people who always get there asses kicked at games OR people who dont understand and appreciate them, you see there ARE people that get paid stupid amounts of money to hardcode the things your blasting, hum lets kill off what 10-15% of the economy, yeah great plan there, im not saying i support the cash machine that is in operation from the game companys, but i do suppoert the dedication and support that the community gives the games, people get addicted through the want to be the best, through the want to have the highest score, not because there sad losers and have nothing better to do, no its because there better than you at that thing, im sure youll turn around to me now and say you can hit a golf ball miles, i can hit a hole in 1 on Tiger woods, name the year of the game and ill kick your ass on it, You can kick a football harder than me, i can wipe the floor with you with Portugal on fifa or Pro Evo, you can beat the living crap out of me, i can beat the crap out of you on fight Night, again name the year of the game, im there kick your ass. See the prob is that ppl have is the difference betweent he "virtual" world and the real world, well when someone can truly pwn both well have a fair argument until then dont judge me cuz i can pistol snipe you fromthe other side of blood gulch and i wont judge a nut whos opened a video game clinic or those who support it. To have an opinion you must have experienced it, i can comfortably say ive suffered a gaming addiction to EQ but thats because life was better there but thats because i was so awesome at it, i apoligise for once loving something i was one of the best at but hey were not al the greatest at life right? i got over it though, got pretty boring winning all the time and now i pretty much pwn every genre of game, platformer still my old skool fave :D lol but thats not the point, the point is people like this guy who opened the clinic and the people that support him suppress what ppl are great at, eyah im great at Counterstrike, meet me there and ill kick your ass, sure your a marine but i can shoot a gun better in CS than you can in RL and no its not because im a sad loser its because im better than you somewhere your not
Like it or lump it, you may pwn at what you do in RL and use it as a justification to judge me and my fellow community but come into my world and meet me on my level and you will truly be pwnt!
-=Roonast=-
Any CS gamers see this come play me on the Teeside servers i like them cuz there kinda local and in UK which is even better :D
I play World of Warcraft. I like playing video games. Millions of people do. I have ever since I was in elementary school. There is no difference in playing a computer game and sitting at a computer in an office at work all day (or trolling forums/blogs). Millions of people don't get enough exercise. I am not concerned about dying a few years earlier. I don't smoke or drink, so I say it should about even it out. But I can honestly say that I am not looking forward to being an old man. Honestly, what the hell do old people do? Play hockey? I plan to read books and play video games with my wife.
By the way, "EVERY single person i know who plays wow is a faggot." Dude, I know people who play warcraft that are mothers, fathers, and even grandparents. YOU ARE A MORON.
i think there are a lot of people who play video games and more often computer games entirely too much. i also know a lot of people who masturbate too often. im talking people with a really strong right arm and a left arm that only turns pages in porno. everybody has their own choice of what they like to do. i know people who spend 10 hours a day pimping out their myspace page.
i think anyone so close-minded as to think "anyone who plays WoW is a fag" probably takes it up his cornhole often. he probably plays Britneys Dance Beat.
im sure its probably not the healthiest thing in the world to sit in front of a computer for 4 hours a day. sitting in front of it for 14 hours is probably less healthy. i dont know about anybody else, but i spend a lot of time sitting around smoking marijuana. im basically fried all the time. i've been this way a little over a year now. ive been playing video games since my parents bought me a NES when i was 3. that was a little over 15 years ago. for many years, i probably played a little too mcuh.
Two years ago I got sucked into the world of Socom II. I started my own clan and everything, got very, very good at it. i havent played in nearly a year now but i bet i could still kill you using only one bullet from a desert eagle. i was playing every day, or at least 4 days a week, for anywhere from an hour to 8 hours a day. it was fun. there were people on the game who were cool to play with and talk to. funny people, people i connected with.
its no different than going down to the local skatepark and associating with other skaters, which ive done my fair share of as well. i used to go skate for 6 hours at a time. it was a fun hobby. i met friends who liked the same thing as i did. when i was really into kickboxing for a couple of years, i got good at that by hanging out with other kickboxers. the only difference was that we were in closer physical proximity to each other while doing what we liked to do together.
when you send your mom an e-mail, shes not your e-mom is she? no, shes still your mom. when your girlfriend calls you on the phone, her voice is the same as if she was right next to you. telecommunications brings the world closer together. i can play socom with my real life friends just as easily as i can play with people who live in other countries. as far as im concerned, the only difference is that i met them somewhere besides the game.
HAVING SAID ALL THAT:
many people play a lot more video games than they should. we've probably all heard horror stories of EQ and WoW and Diablo and god knows how many others games. some people throw their lives away for it.
i myself have spent plenty of time playing video games. i also spend a lot of time keeping my cross-country network of bitches on a short set of leashes. i also spend a lot of time hanging out with friends. until graduating this year, i had to spend a lot of time at school. do i consider playing a video game for 10 hours one night a fulfilling day? not really. but it passes the time more fun than laying around not doing anything.
this clinics not for "avid-gamers" like myself or anybody else reading this blog. this clinic is for people whose lives are being destroyed by their fascination with certain games. people who cease to function in the normal world because they've assumed their video-game identity to the fullest extent.
and finally, if youre not into video games, thats cool. shut up about it. probably somebody you know and love (or if you have no loved ones, then someone you're jealous of) likes to play video games for 4+ hours daily. statistically, it happns a lot. get over it. go find yourself a hobby.
Ok, videogaming itself is not an addiction but when combined with a mental disorder and a healthy drug habit it becomes one. I can quit anytime but since I work 8.5 hours a day and get rejected on a daily basis I think it's better for me to occupy my time with videogaming and playing guitar than tossing molotov cocktails at the police or stabbing random people. Soon anarchy will reign and the world will tear itself a new one, oil is becoming rarer and more expensive each day and we still continue to burn it and pollute our world. I for one will laugh with childlike delight as the temperature rises and the populous suffocates on it's own excrement. Mankind is truly the least intelligent animal on earth, just behind insects who work together to build and protect their colony. We are driven by greed and competition and it's these traits which will undo us all. For now be thankful you're still alive and have the ability to eat and breathe because soon you won't. Several have predicted our downfall but our arrogance makes us blind to even the most basic truth. We bicker over life after death and intelligent design both of which are false and ignore the greater problems treatening our very existence. People need to slap themselves in the face and wake up. I've said all I need to say.
Lol Garrett you hit the nail right on the head with that one lol
thank you Roonast. if you'd like to play CS on my clan's server any time, our IP is clan911.sytes.net:27015 and my name is [911] an ounce |AK|
Awesome man, i should be on in a bit, im -=Roonast=- < if u couldnt have guessed lol
Catch you in a bit
I wish my husband only played 4 hours a day. That would be great! Unfortunatly, he gets up at 6am, goes to work, gets off of work at 3pm and spends the rest of the day until usually 11pm on DAoC. He plays on the computer in the bedroom and honestly, I really feel that I don't see him all day, except when he has to use the bathroom or when I take him his dinner plate. The sad part is, we are only 20 years old and I am pregnant, due to have our daughter in just 3 days.
I feel like if we did get divorced, I would honestly never notice because it feels as if he already isn't around. Oh, and his days OFF of work... well, lets just say he is on from the time he wakes up until the time he goes to sleep.
And bribing him to get off doesn't work (if you know what I mean). Some people do have serious problems with video games. Sure, its not the video game itself. I, too, have played DAoC. I played it when we first got together. I didn't get as addicted as he is. He has been playing the game for about a year now, 24/7 if he has the chance. Some people have addictive personalities and do need help.
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