Re: "Video Games Aren't Addictive"

To the editor:

Doctors Ferguson and Markey (NY Times, 4/2/17; 'Video games aren't addictive') point to a large scale study about internet gaming to prematurely conclude that video games are not addictive but a 'normal behavior' that for some may be a 'waste of time.'  In clinical practice, there are some patients whose gaming activities profoundly interfere with the work and social demands of living.  For some individuals it manifests itself as part of a severe depression, social anxiety, or incipient psychosis; that is, it is symptomatic of another primary psychiatric diagnosis. For others, it appears to be consistent with a pattern of addictive behavior. It seldom surfaces as a complaint by the individual. 

Given that tens of millions of people engage in gaming, one would not expect this behavior to be pathological for the majority who engage in it. Time will tell whether or not it makes sense to make gaming addiction a formal psychiatric diagnosis or to refine the diagnostic criteria so that it is more sensitive in revealing pathology.  It will also take more time to discern if there are adverse developmental consequences for young people whose game playing is increasingly in the virtual world.

While the research the authors report is reassuring, it is premature to make a definitive clinical judgment about the health effects of gaming.

Respectfully submitted,

Larry S. Sandberg MD