My Name is Chris Sterbank and I am addicted to Video Games

With our discussion about video game addiction today, I decided to follow up on one of the questions and take an addictions test. I am 66% certify video game addicted. (Based on a test I found with no medical credibility and it also showed a picture of a Pikachu to tell me I was addicted.) There you have. I am a mess. I need help. Video game addiction may be a real problem but I feel it falls into the category of just plain addiction. Easily accessible video games + obsessive personalities = addiction. Bio behavioral health studies classify an addiction as a dependence on a substance to function normally within a society. Video games take the place of this substance. However, I am sure there are a great number of people that have a true blue psychological addiction. But there are some however that may fall to the "over-catering" by old people using buzz words and following popular culture. "I need to play this game because they say I am addicted." By creating an environment where this problem is real and so easily diagnosed by non-medical type personnel, it may be creating a problem that isn't even there.

Unlike drug addiction, there is no chemical dependence being made. Video games stimulate the brain's rewards center releasing dopamine. This creates a good feeling so people keep playing to continue this feeling. Your body does not become dependent on the dopamine being released. It is an impulse to feel the effects of it. Therefore rehabilitation can take place on the psychological level.

I now think to watching some of my favorite TV shows. I watched the first season of Lost in a couple day. Any time I took a break or went to sleep, all I could think about was lost. The series ended and a day later, I thought of other things. (Though I am religiously hooked.) Video games also have these endings. Sooner or later somebody is going to to do every quest in World of Warcraft or they are going to get overwhelmed with having too many. I had a friend that played WoW consistently and one day, he just said he was bored with it and quit. The people that are playing them to point where it starts causing health problems are the people that have greater problems than just video games.