Sexual activity can become problematic behavior if it interferes with a person’s ability to keep promises, violates personal values, feels beyond personal control, or continues despite negative consequences. Like shopping and sex, video games have become an activity that people use to manage distress or cope with the rest of life. Although patterns of brain activation are similar to that seen in other addictions, video gaming is not listed as an addiction in the DSM-5 due to lack of compelling research into what a viable criteria would be for discerning patients with an addiction from patients with other primary issues. So far, there have not been consistent results suggesting that those who meet the criteria suffer adverse emotional, physical, or mental effects, and one study estimated that only 0.8 to 1.0 percent of people would meet the proposed criteria.
Behavioral Addiction: What We Know and What We Don’t | Psychology Today
2021-06-08