The recent, high-profile Brandon Crisp tragedy once again brought the debate over video game dependency to the forefront. But, does obsessive video game play necessarily equal addiction?
Not according to Keith Bakker (left), the founder of the Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam, Europe’s first and only clinic to treat game addiction. After running Smith & Jones for two years, Bakker has concluded that compulsive gaming is a social problem, not a psychological one.
Bakker told the BBC:
These kids come in showing some kind of symptoms that are similar to other addictions and chemical dependencies. But the more we work with these kids the less I believe we can call this addiction. What many of these kids need is their parents and their school teachers - this is a social problem.
Eighty per cent of the young people we see have been bullied at school and feel isolated. Many of the symptoms they have can be solved by going back to good old fashioned communication...
If I continue to call gaming an addiction it takes away the element of choice these people have. It's a complete shift in my thinking and also a shift in the thinking of my clinic and the way it treats these people.
In response to these observations, the clinic has altered its treatment program to help compulsive gamers develop “activity-based social and communications skills to help them rejoin society.”
Bakker feels that his clinic may no longer be needed if “parents and adults in the community took more responsibility for the habits of their children.”
Via: gamesindustry.biz
-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics correspondent Andrew Eisen typed this story with his left hand while playing Wii Tennis with his right.
Comments
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Hm, you're confusing me now. With "this article", do you mean the GP article or the BBC one? If the GP, is that because Dennis should have quoted a bit more, indicating there's also seem-really-addicted people?
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
The BBC article...GP dose not say enough to read inbetween the lines for once :P
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
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Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
But didn't the BBC article include that 10% still profits from addiction-treatment? I mean:
"Using traditional abstinence-based treatment models the clinic has had very high success rates treating people who also show other addictive behaviours such as drug taking and excessive drinking.
But Mr Bakker believes that this kind of cross-addiction affects only 10% of gamers."
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
It seems to me that Zippy either hasn't fully read the article or hasn't understood it. The specialist is saying that in his experience as an addiction specialist, 90% of game addicts aren't addicts while 10% are. Not sure why that would be confusing.
Is Zippy an addiction specialist? I doubt it, yet he feels his own view is more valid than a person who has spent his entire career investigating and treating addiction. What a very modern way of thinking - it doesn't matter what the experts say - the gut is the only real source of what's right.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
I say it again.
No shit.
Again, what all pundits and self righteous video game activists do is cover up the problems that need to be addressed, seeing to it that the people who can be helped will never be helped thus keeping this problem going, which honeslty I think is their goal now, keep this problem going so they can feeel important and ban material they deem offensive.
The PTC, Jack Thompson, all of them are just enablers giving bullies and ther unreputable characters an excuse.
*finisheshsi rant and hits the obligatory countdown clock*
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Wow, I'm an enabler of bullies and unreputable [sic] characters. That wouldn't happen to include Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two, would it? No, this site and posters like you enable THAT bully and that disreputable character.
As to this story, it really doesn't matter whether you call a kid who plays a video game ten hours a day addicted or not. He's spending way too much time playing a game, regardless of the name you give his ridiculous behavior.
AE: Paragraph deleted. If you're going to complain about defamation then don't defame others. It lacks class.
Jack Thompson
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
AE, thanks again for making Jack Thompson's posts exception-safe, whenever Jack fails to catch a serious exception in the stuff he posts.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
"As to this story, it really doesn't matter whether you call a kid who plays a video game ten hours a day addicted or not. He's spending way too much time playing a game, regardless of the name you give his ridiculous behavior."
So says the one who always seems to have all the time in the world to come up with all these crackpot conspiracies, vitriol, and empty threats against gamers. If I didn't know any better, you're the one who seems to have a compulsion to keep coming back here. Wouldn't that merit as an...addiction?
Remember - when you point one finger at somebody, three more are pointing back at you.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
You tried to exonerate Cody Posey's parents who RAPED him and instead tried to put the blame on Grand Theft Auto. You support child rapists. So yes, you are an enabler of bullies, disreputable characters and much worse. Though now that you are no longer a lawyer you can't even really do that all that well. So good luck at your new jobt [sic] as a journalis. [sic]
As far as whether a person is addicted or not. Yet again you show you true colors in that you don't care about people. You see John, unless you know the cause of a problem you cannot solve the problem.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Wow, I'm an enabler of bullies and unreputable [sic] characters. That wouldn't happen to include Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two, would it? No, this site and posters like you enable THAT bully and that disreputable character.
I'd say the pot called the kettle black again, but this is more like the pot calling the tobacco illegal. You're the bully, Jack. Not Take-Two Interactive, not Strauss Zelnick, but you.
岩「…Where do masochists go when they die?」
岩「…I can see why Hasselbeck's worried about fake guns killing fake people. afterall, she's a fake journalist on a fake news channel」
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Yes, playing a video game all day is stupid. But so is watching television. Or movies. Or fiction books. Or going to a blog filled with people you hate. Guess we need to ban all those too.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Fascist Jack Thompson preaches to the choir again, thinking that we do not agree that playing games the whole day is stupid. I bet you extend this diatribe in your fascict book too.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
As to this story, it really doesn't matter whether you call a kid who plays a video game ten hours a day addicted or not. He's spending way too much time playing a game, regardless of the name you give his ridiculous behavior.
WRONG AGAIN!
actually it matters massively whether you call a kid who plays a video game ten hours a day addicted or not. specifically, it matters wether the kid is medically addicted or not. One is simply a social problem, and one requires medical treatment. One is down to an item having addicting qualities coupled with poor social skills/bad past experiences, and one is JUST poor social skills/bad past experiences. It COMPLETELY shifts how these kids should be treated.
Did you not read the article? ill quote it for you:
''
BAKKER: Many of the symptoms they have can be solved by going back to good old fashioned communication...
If I continue to call gaming an addiction it takes away the element of choice these people have. It's a complete shift in my thinking and also a shift in the thinking of my clinic and the way it treats these people.
AE:In response to these observations, the clinic has altered its treatment program to help compulsive gamers develop “activity-based social and communications skills to help them rejoin society.”
''
as you can see, it completely affected how these kids should be treated. And its not just 'changing its name' its AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THING. One is an addiction, the other is not. This shows that the majority of these so called 'addicts' are in fact nothing of the sort. That flies completely in the face of your claims.
Playing a game all day is stupid, and we should discourage such behavior.
Again.. that is your opinion, not necessarily everyone elses. You dont have a right to inflict your opinion on everyone else. Besides, when somebody is not deemed old enough to be responsible for their actions, a guardian IS. That would NOT be you, but typically a parent. And their opinion trumps yours.
It leads to Brandon Crisp tragedies, which all games/all the time sites like this one make more likely.
so.. 'sites like this' make tragedies more likely? What? Talking about politics makes tragedies more likely? Can you please explain how that makes sense, your losing it DisbarredGuy, your lobes are fried. As for 'games' making tragedys like Brandon's more likely... err do you have EVIDENCE (im not sure you know what that means)? do you have EVIDENCE that IF NOT FOR THE GAME, Brandon would NOT have fallen accidentally from that tree? really? Again.. how does that work in DisbarredGuyLand then? It sure as heck doesnt make sense here on earth.
If saying so makes me an ambulance chaser, so be it. It's folks like the gamers here that are causingthe accidents. I just clean up after them.
Right.. Firstly you need to use the past tense in your claim. You 'cleanED' up after gamers. You no longer have a law license remember. Past tense.
Secondly, how exactly did bringing frivolous lawsuits (NONE of which succeeded) actually 'clean up' anything. How does 'using' tragedies for your own personal gain (getting 5 mins on tv) to feed your narcissistic personality disorder 'clean up' anything. That claim would require you to do something of VALUE. Which you have not. You lied and spread misinformation, making the job HARDER for parents. Is that helping?
Thirdly... err .. 'gamers here that are causing the accidents'?
Ok DisbarredGuy, pull ONE (JUST ONE) name out of your ass of any ONE person on this site who has 'caused an accident' like this, go on. You actually used 'gamerS' (plural) but i bet, once again, you cant even man up enough to name ONE person on this site who has done so. You are like a cowardly child. As soon as you are faced with the facts you run away. Wow.. what a man.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
That was the point I was trying to make if you can unlearn the behavior fairly quickly then it might not be an addiction but if you have to be dragged away and change your lifestyle hen perhaps you are addicted.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Copyright infringement is nothing more than civil disobedience to a bad set of laws. Let's renegotiate them.
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Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
The trouble is you are painting with a broad brush much like the old prohibitionists did alcohol is vile, evil and creates vicious madmen yet without we destroyed local economies(those on the barder system ,those that made liqueur/beer for a living) killed thousands that needed their daily release via bad boose that was part of the onyl alternative to get your fix and created the vile and viscous gangsters of the 20's and 30s.
Of course we are not talking about something as simple as booze we are talking about the subtleties of media censorship through the guise of its unhealthy for you because blind moralists dislike it and can not see the forest for the trees and are immature enough to burn it down and then say oops we did not mean instate thought police, we didn't mean to burn books, we did not mean to turn adults into wards of the state because they are not allowed to think for themselfs for everything they read is approved by the state.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Copyright infringement is nothing more than civil disobedience to a bad set of laws. Let's renegotiate them.
---
http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
So you admit that it is the whole of gaming that you want to rid the world of and not just adult product sales to minors.
Wow, you sir are a walking contridiction.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Nope, never said that. Where'd you get that, from a Mary Kay Cosmetics brochure, Zach? Jack Thompson
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Says the person who thinks everyone here deserves to be legally executed...
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
***, Thompson. Shut up and stop drooling.
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
AE: None of that please.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Havent you already used that weak insult?
Wow.. you have like 3 insults that you just repeat. And none of then are any good. Maybe you should get a parrot.
Id love to see how your lawsuit goes when you claim 'the mean people in the forum called me names', and then it turns out you are a sick SOB who would bring somebodys wife into it when she wasnt even present. Just low DisbarredGuy, very low even for you. Totally hypocritical too dont you think?
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
I could say something mean about how a Mary Kay cosmetics catalouge could provide some people with a potential antidote to the problem of dog biscuits constantly being tossed their way . . . but I won't. Ain't enough Mary Kay comestics in the world to solve that problem.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
You didn't need to outright say it, you implied it quite clearly.
ANd you might try looking away from the elementary school playgroudn for your "insults"
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
I'm just waiting on the day he says, "I am rubber, you are glue, bounce off me and stick on you" while putting his thumbs in his ears and wiggling his fingers.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Well at least untill he needs to make a point indicating otherwise yeah.
Then he'll say 'Ohh what was that noise.. it sounded like the drop of a hat', and come out with a completely contradictory statement.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
@Jack Thompson, who wrote:
Playing a game all day is stupid.
No more stupid than shooting yourself in the foot all day, every day, is. I'll try and find you a referral to a clinic in the Miaim-Dade area that treats addiction to foot-shooting.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Well, being a bully you should know how to start one.
And giving your actiosn during the Cody posey case, you are an enabler of child molestors, as well as terroroism givign your statements endorsing islamic terrorists, not ot mention the many recent cases of criminals tryign ot blame video games to try and get off easy.
Also, I do go to Gamestop and Wal Mart a lot, not once do I ever see a person sticking copies of GTA4 in people's carts, nor have I ever seen a kid being able to buy a copy of GTA without a parent present.
And calling you an ambulance chaser is a compliment, you're a hearse chaser.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Playing a game all day is stupid
Oh, really? Wow, man, why you don´t become a doctor? Or a detective? With that logic of yours you should be Captain Obvious, defender of the... obvious things and meaningless stuff.
Any abuse is harmful, you dumbass...
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
99% of Moral Crusaders Are Not Remotely Intelligent.
*** makes you a massacre chaser, Mr Jack "Too Fucking Stupid To Spell 'Relevance' Right" Thompson.
every thing you say, every frivolous lawsuit, death threat and confession to your ***, is more proof that youre out to make Joseph "born to rape" Fritzl look positevely noble by comparison;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7684511.stm
***
AE: Going a little far there. Let's pull it back a bit.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Always know how to turn a loss into an "I really didn't care anyway", dont you.
Re: Addiction Specialist: 90% of Compulsive Gamers Are Not
Meh high level compulsions are addictions so depending on the individual it well can be an addiction, don't confuse "can't live without it" with "don't want to live without it".
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Copyright infringement is nothing more than civil disobedience to a bad set of laws. Let's renegotiate them.
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