1. V IDEO G AMING ADDICTIONS Aaron Chen, Ryan Hildebrandt, Mandy Randhawa Psyc 100, Fall 2014

2. W HAT IS V IDEO G AMING A DDICTION ? When someone becomes more concerned with the game than their ordinary life and spend excessive hours playing it (Weinstein, 2010) -Excessive Video gaming has been defined as 5 hours per week -Dependent is more that 10 hours per week (King et al, 2013) The internet has been a growing part of the human life for a number of years, but the prospect of video gaming addiction and internet is fairly new (Weinstein, 2010)

3. D EFINING THE A DDICTION ( GRIIFITHS There is a difference between "excessive gaming" and "addictive gaming". Two gamers may play for the same number of hours each day, but their psychological motivation and the significance that gaming has within their lives can be very different. (Griffths, M et al, 2010.) Gaming addiction should be defined by how much the game negatively impacts others areas of life, not by how much time is spent playing. (Griffiths, Met al, 2010)

4. Video gaming is just as real as subtance abuse (Weinsten, 268) Gamers display six characteristics required to call a behaviour an addiction (King et al, 2013) -Salience: when video- gaming has started dominating all aspects of the person’s life -Mood modification: changes in mood which occurs after playing the video games -Tolerance: refers to the gradual increasing of video gaming hours to achieve the same mood altering affects.

5. ….. CONTINUED -Withdrawal: discontinuing the activity and experiencing negative physical and emotional effects - Relapse: when the player retrieves back to the earlier video gaming habits - Harm: refers to the negative consequences of excessive gaming, can include effects to psychological and physical health

6. G ENETICS AND O THER D ISORDERS There is no evidence that genetic factors influence video and computer gaming addictions (Weinstein, 2010, p. 268) Behaviour is independent of other psychiatric disorders (Weinstein, 2010, p.268) -not caused by existing conditions such as ADHD Epidemiological Studies have demonstrated that internet gaming is comorbid with depressive disorder (Ko, C et al, 2013)

7. C UE I NDUCED V IDEO G AMING (C HEN ET AL. 2013) When addictive gamers were exposed to cues such as game screen shots, they immediately generated an automatic urge of gaming behaviour which resulted in loss of control on gaming use This observation was craving under anticipation which is the last stage of addiction, involving conditional reinforcement, contextual information and executive control Frontal lobe, limibic system and spatial attention network were involved in this activity

8. W HAT IS THE FRONTAL LOBE, LIMBIC SYSTEM AND SPATIAL ATTENTION NETWORK ? Limbic system: -Complex structure located in the brain, which included hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus - involved in surfacing emotional memory Frontal lobe: -front part of the brain which controls decision making, problem solving and purposeful behaviour Spatial Attention: the ability to focus on a specific stimuli in an environment

9. B RAIN A CTIVITY AND V IDEO G AMING (W EINSTEIN, 2010, P. 273-284) Studies have shown a release of dopamine when playing video games Dopamine is a compound in the body known as a neurotransmitter which controls reward, pleasure and movement in the body Brain processes are similar to gambling and substance abuse. Regions of the brain associated with cravings in substance abuse also appear to be activated in gaming addicts when they view images of video games (Ko, C et al, 2009)

10. T RAITS OF A DDICTS (G RIFFITHS, M. ET AL, 2010, P.281) Many factors play into why people become addicted to video gaming Some are psychological and others are social - personality traits: narcissism - loneliness -social anxiety It has been found that the gaming addicts have - low self control -impulsiveness

11. …. CONTINUED Most online gamers are male. Among male gamers, more severe online gaming addiction is correlated with older age, lower self-esteem, and lower dissatisfaction with daily life. This relationship did not hold true for female gamers (Ko et al, 2005) In a volunteer sample, 41% of online gamers acknowledged that they use gaming as an escape. In the same sample, 7% were viewed as "dependent". These gamers possessed several behavioral attributes that are related to more well established forms of addiction (e.g., mood modification, tolerance, & relapse). (Hussain et al, 2009)

12. M OTIVATIONS FOR PLAYING THE GAME ( KING ET AL, 2013). Gaming world offers more success than what might be experienced in real life, therefore feels more rewarding Helps coping with negative emotions through -virtual friends -empowerment -mastery -control -recognition Issue is that there is a slippery slope between coping and using it excessively

13. D IAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL M ANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDER (5 TH ED ) Internet gaming disorder is recognized in section iii as a condition needing more clinical research and experience before it can be a part of the main book as a formal disorder (Griffiths et al, 2009) Currently proceeded under Internet Use Disorder ( King et al, 2013) This announcement was the first recognition of video gaming as a disorder (King et al, 2013)

14. C RITISIMS OF I NCLUDING IT UNDER DSM (W OOD, 2008) Lack of Clinical definition Media hysteria and parental control throwing it out of proportion Negative consequences aren’t severe enough for concern Positive effects are seen while gaming - stress relief - way of coping

15. T REAMENT Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a recommended treatment method for gaming addiction. CBT for computer gaming addiction involves setting healthy goals, monitoring gaming patterns, changing behavioral habits, and challenging thoughts that maintain or intensify video game addiction. (King el al 2010) Video gaming problems have received treatment from mental health and medical service providers (King et al, 2013)

16. …..C ONTINUED (K ING ET AL, 2013) Many treatments have been conducted, but it is difficult to find meaningful comparison to which works better because of no standard assessment Consensus on measurement of video gaming need to be made for consistent assessment treatment and future intervention studies -instruments are difficult in own ways therefore difficult measuring which one works the best

17. A SSESSMENT OF A DDICTION (K ING ET AL, 2013) Increased sophistication in assessment and measurement need to be present for accurate treatment and diagnosis instruments which are more reliable and valid need to be development Much of the instruments today have been adapted from adult screens and are being used on children and adolescents with this addiction

18. (K ING ET AL, 2013)