Game addiction is explained as thinking about the game mentally, disrupting daily work, negatively affecting social, family, and academic life and continuing the game despite this, not being able to stay away from the game and showing reactive behaviors when prevented from playing, conflict, and withdrawal symptoms when not playing the game. In the literature, situations related to the relationship between human and technology have been handled in many ways from the past to the present. Excessive use of technology has been explained with terms such as compulsive, pathological, problematic and dependent, and the terms have been used interchangeably. For the first time in 1995, Goldberg renewed the criteria for substance addiction and used the term ‘internet addiction disorder’ for the first time. Problematic online activities are included under the term Internet addiction; these are online shopping, gambling, gaming, social media etc.
Individuals are born with the desire to play by nature. The concept of game is a verb that integrates with people and adds the ability to think abstractly and liberates people. In addition, playing games is an activity that emerges aimlessly and makes the individual happy (Yağbasan and Şener, 2019). From the past to the present, with the development of technology, playing games has passed to the digital dimension and game addiction has developed with the transition of the game action to the digital dimension. The World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association have defined game addiction as a psychological disorder. Studies in the literature emphasize that the time spent on digital games in the world is increasing day by day.
Symptoms of Game Addiction
Symptoms of Game Addiction; salience, tolerance, relapse, withdrawal symptoms, mood lability, and conflict. Tolerance; is the need to increase the time spent by the individual in playing games and activities related to games. salience; The fact that the game is at the center of one’s life defines that thoughts and actions are always game-oriented. Relapse is the reoccurrence of the behavior after the person has taken control of his or her gaming activity. Withdrawal symptoms are the reactions and emotions that occur in the individual when the game cannot be played or suddenly reduces playing. Mood changes are mental changes such as excitement and relaxation that develop with playing games. The loss of functionality that occurs as a result of playing conflict games is the negativity in life as a result of delaying tasks.
Symptoms of players with a diagnosis of game addiction; Play is top priority in their lives,
Lying about the games and the duration of the game, Hiding the game from the social environment, If a time limit is imposed on the game, they will oppose it, Reluctance to every activity outside the game, Disengagement from social life, Unsuccessful attempts to quit the game, There is an escape in the life of the game, The game not being able to quit the game despite experiencing various negativities and awareness due to playing. Game addiction is not only in the DSM, but also in the ICD-11.
It has been considered as ‘gaming disorder’ under the umbrella of the disorder in which
Komobid Diagnoses in Gaming Addiction
The causes of gaming addiction are very complex. One or more reasons can trigger game addiction and cause addiction. We can consider the causes of game addiction in two sub-factor groups, internal and external. Internal factors; low self-esteem, self-regulation problems, motivation to play, structural and functional neurobiological abnormalities, comorbid diseases such as depression, ADHD, and social phobia. We can list the external factors as parental problems, negative role models, neglect, domestic violence, relational problems, social loneliness, and the factors belonging to the game itself.
Game addiction negatively affects the sleep factor required for healthy life symptoms in adolescents. Adolescents are sleep deprived to play too much, and insomnia shows symptoms similar to ADHD symptoms. Some of the adolescents who experience insomnia due to gaming think that they have ADHD. However, these adolescents are not diagnosed with ADHD, only game addiction is seen. There are situations where ADHD and game addiction are comorbid, and these are frequently encountered in such situations. In addition, a compilation of 24 studies found a significant relationship between OD and depression, anxiety, ADHD, social phobia/anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the relationship between gaming addiction and psychiatric comorbidity. Moreover, it has been reported that individuals with social anxiety and those who think that they cannot express themselves well in daily life have a risk factor that they may be more prone to game addiction.
