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Doctors: Videogames Not Addictive

Don't worry: playing WoW for 48 hours straight while ignoring food, personal hygiene, and your girlfriend doesn't mean you have a mental illness.

US, June 25, 2007 - During a weekend debate at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, doctors and addiction experts rejected the idea that videogame addiction is a serious risk akin to alcoholism or compulsive gambling. If there is such a thing as videogame addiction, experts don't believe it can be classified as a "mental disorder," as these other types of addictions are designated.

"There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), according to Reuters.

The debate was organized by a committee at the ASAM which wanted to have videogame addiction listed as a mental disorder in the American Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders. The guide is used by the American Psychiatric Association to diagnose mental illness. But more study is needed, experts said, before videogame addiction can be taken as seriously as other addictions and mental illnesses.

Doctors admitted that while normal videogame use is harmless, in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day activities such as showering, working, or eating.

The American Medical Association will consider the testimony and vote on the matter later this week.