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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Off Topic Discussion  |  90% of "game addicts" actually not addicted « previous next »
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Author Topic: 90% of "game addicts" actually not addicted  (Read 6349 times)
Magnus
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« Reply #15 on: November 30, 2008, 02:21:08 AM »

First off sorry for the length of this. 

I’m a social worker who has worked with clients who have behavioral and chemical addictions as well as clients who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  In the addiction treatment community there is a lot of conflict regarding whether or not behavioral addiction is a true addiction.  Also in the psychiatric treatment community there is a lot of interchange of the terms addiction, compulsion, and dependence.  This I think has more to do with lack of a specific focus on working with these issues and because there is a good deal of similarity and subtle but important differences.   

I’m not basing these thoughts on any citable sources just my opinions based on observations from working with these areas.  To me addictive behavior and compulsive behaviors are very similar but I think that there are some important differences.  Addictive behaviors triggers a response from the pleasure centers of the brain (at least in the short run).  Some one who is addicted gets a pleasurable response from the use of the drug or the engaging in the behavior and often from the ritual that precedes the behavior or drug use.  A person I worked with who had gambling problems would talk about the rush they got from riding in the bus to the casinos.  This was because they could fantasize about the gaming and the thoughts about how to spend their winnings.  These thoughts triggered a response from the pleasure tract in the brain.  For them when they won there was a huge rush but that was not always achieved. 

Compulsive behaviors do not stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain.  Mark Summers who was on some Nickelodeon show where he would have green slime dumped on him and was doing another show called unwrapped on food network has come out and spoke about his experiences with OCD.  He talked about how he would have to come home every night and comb out the tassels on carpeting for about 2 hours per night.  He was not doing this because it made him feel good he did it because if he did not he would feel more and more anxious until he did this.  There was no pleasure derived from it.  From my experience compulsive behaviors specifically focus on reducing anxiety that is triggered by uncontrollable thoughts.   

Related to what Rev Powell said in general I prefer the term dependence rather then addiction more because it describes the level of severity.  In this type of work I look to see if someone’s behaviors meet the criteria for abuse or if they meet the more sever diagnosis of dependence.  Dependence more closely meets what most people think of addiction however symptoms of withdrawal are not often presence.  There is more to the diagnosis but in general I look for withdrawal or increased tolerance as well as a loss of control over the use.  Tolerance is generally defined as the need to use more of the substance or to increase the intensity of the behaviors to get the same effect.  Abuse is loosely seen as the continued use of a substance or engagement in a behavior despite the presence of negative consequences and loss of control is the inability to stop the use or behaviors once started.  There is an AA saying “one drink is too many and a thousand is not enough”.  I like this because to me it is a great description of loss of control. 

Generally what many of us think of as withdrawal is what people go through when they stop using alcohol or heroin after longer term daily use.  However when many people quit smoking or stop gambling they will be more irritable, have difficulties focusing etc.  This in my view is the result of how the neurons are firing without the presence of the chemical used or the same flow of neurotransmitters produced by the behaviors.   Their behaviors are triggered by the same processes as the withdrawal from a chemical.  Also many medications cause physical dependency but are not abuse able because they do not work on the pleasure tract of the brain.  Prozac is an example of this.  When someone takes Prozac it does not produce euphoria like xanax can because it does not work on the pleasure track but if a person stops taking it after a long time of use they need to lower the dose over a period of time or else they experience physical withdrawal.   

Ok this is way to long as it is so I am going to stop here. 
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