AMA wants Video Game addiction officially classified

Do you think you are addicted to video games? If not, do you know someone who takes gaming to an extreme and perhaps harmful end that you would consider an addiction? I'm not talking about someone who plays 3 or 4 hours a day. We all know at least one person who plays World of Warcraft for 8 or more hours a day...are they suffering from an illness? A medical group says yes.

A group of the AMA (American Medical Association) wants to have Video Game Addiction officially recognized as an illness so that patients can use their insurance to seek treatment.

The nation's leading doctors' group could vote on whether to add video-game addiction to a widely used mental-illness manual at a national meeting this weekend in Chicago, a move that would raise awareness about the issue and make it easier for patients to file insurance claims for treatment.

The debate among AMA members is expected to be heated. For starters, there's not even agreement that playing hours and hours of the latest game for Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii or a multiplayer online role-playing game such as "World of Warcraft" is a true addiction, similar to dependence on alcohol or drugs.

According to Dr. Jon Grant, a psychiatrist at the University of Minnesota Medical School who specializes in studying and treating addictive behaviors in adults, there's a lot to consider before heavy video-game use is called an addiction. Players, including younger ones, may turn to games out of boredom, depression, loneliness and more. "Is it a problem, or is it the symptom of a problem?" Grant said. "I don't know if we actually know that yet."

Some websites give video gamers and their loved ones a forum in which to share their stories of playing addiction, such as Gamer Widow (http://www.gamerwidow.com/) and On-Line Gamers Anonymous (http://www.olganon.com/). But many players and those in the industry are skeptical.

St. Louis Park, Minnesota resident Justin Riss, 31, said he has played video games since the 1980s and found the AMA's move "absolutely hysterical."I have no physical or emotional side effects due to the use of playing games. I still play," he said. "Furthermore, I consider my hand-eye coordination better than most other individuals, and I attribute that to my days of sitting on the couch playing games like 'Tecmo Bowl' and 'Double Dribble.' "

Eric Hanson, 29, a Web developer at the University of Minnesota said: "While video-game addiction could be real, it is time that psychiatric science simply limit diagnosis to 'addictive predisposition' rather than trying to classify every conceivable behavior as having an addiction."

Andy McNamara, editor-in-chief of Minneapolis-based Game Informer magazine, said the AMA's actions are another sign of how video games are misunderstood.

"The simple fact that society calls too much gaming an 'addiction' and too much eating a 'disorder,' gives you an idea how the video-game industry is treated by the people who simply don't understand it," he said.

Some players do see potential pitfalls in playing too much of games such as the immensely popular "World of Warcraft."I play this game actively and can attest to its addictive properties," said Sean Carter, 31, a Denver technology manager who commented through the Star Tribune's website. "The social interaction and forced cooperation with other live players combined with the open-ended story line can easily draw you in. It's a great example of the digital world replacing real life."

The AMA could vote on the proposal by Monday, but even if approved, it will not appear in the mental-illness manual until the publication's next edition in 2012. So don't call in sick to play games just yet.

Read the full story from Randy A. Salas of the Star Tribune here.