American Medical Association experts backed away from a controversial proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder similar to alcoholism, saying psychiatrists should study the issue more.
A committee of the influential physicians’ group had proposed video game addiction be listed as a mental disorder in the American Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, a guide used by the American Psychiatric Association in diagnosing mental illness.
Addiction experts strongly opposed the idea at a debate at the American Medical Association’s annual meeting.
They said more study is needed before excessive use of video and online games – a problem that affects about 10 percent of players – could be considered a mental illness.
“There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn`t get to have the word addiction attached to it,” said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
The AMA committee will consider the testimony and make its final recommendation to the AMA’s 555 voting delegates, who will vote on the matter later this week.
The Entertainment Software Association, which represents the $30 billion global video game industry, said more research is needed before video game addiction should be categorized as a mental disorder.