| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
CHICAGO: It may seem an obvious diagnosis for parents, but video games might not actually be addictive, the American Medical Association says.
A report recommending that internet and video gaming addiction be considered a mental disorder was watered down after a heated debate broke out among delegates at the association's annual convention in Chicago.
Some questioned whether there was enough scientific evidence to support claims that excessive game playing is similar to pathological gambling.
Others insisted on more study before advising that parents include video games in a recommended one- to two-hour limit on "screen time."
The report, prepared for the nation's largest doctors group, cited a wealth of studies showing the harm caused by excessive gaming.
It has been linked to increased aggressive and violent behavior.
It can provoke epileptic seizures - one study put the risk at 1.5 per 100,000 children - and is associated with increased metabolic rates and repetitive strain injuries.
And - as any parent can tell you - it can distract children from their homework and make them withdraw from their families.
Researchers in Britain found that 12 percent of gamers were "addicted" according to World Health Organization criteria, and researchers in the United States have found that as many as 10 to 15 percent of gamers are affected by "overuse" the report noted.
"However, as with findings on long-term aggression, there is currently insufficient research to conclude that video game overuse is an addiction," the report concluded.
The issue will go before the full association later this week.
The revised recommendation is to warn parents and health care professionals about the potential dangers of gaming and to pass the edited report along to the American Psychiatric Association, which is in the process of updating the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
"Addiction is a complex disease," the committee declared, "formal recognition of problem gaming via online/video sources as representing true addictive illness is premature."
Classifying video game addiction as a mental disorder could affect whether insurance companies would pay for treatment and give doctors guidelines on treatment and prescribing medication. - AFP/fa
|
