A Texas clinical psychologist, Dr. Anthony Bean, collaborated with three other psychologists to publish an academic paper with the American Psychological Association on what they perceive to be a dangerous rush to pathologize video game addiction. The paper focuses on two newer efforts to bring “gaming disorder” into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) and the International Compendium of Diseases (ICD). The former is a United States tool that categorizes known diseases and the latter is an international database that serves a similar function.
Speaking with Polygon about the paper, Bean said, “In the whole field of ‘video game addiction,’ “the incidence ranges all the way from 0.8 percent all the way up to 50 percent of the gaming population, depending on which study you decide to look at.” Because of the broadness and inconsistencies of research on the subject, Bean and his colleagues suggest diagnosing people at this point and getting things categorized at this stage could end up causing harm to people afflicted with conditions such as depression.
How do you feel about video game addition? Do you think it is too early to start classifying it as a real addition?
Source: Polygon