Gaming addiction: symptoms, causes and treatments
Explaining the signs and symptoms of gaming addiction, potential causes and treatment methods.
Gaming addiction is a behavioural addiction referring to a pattern of frequent and persistent gaming, despite the negative consequences that this causes, including relationship, financial or work based problems.
Gaming addiction can be broken down into two types of addiction, which include:
Single-player video game addiction - these types of games involve only one player, and tend to involve a clear path or series of missions to complete, and will feature a narrative to accompany your progress through the game.
Multiplayer video game addiction - online multiplayer games are video games that are played with other people based in different locations across the world, via an internet connection. These games are more likely to cause symptoms of addiction due to there being no official ending like there is with single-player games.
The two primary signs that set gaming addiction apart from avid gaming habits include:
Obsessive thoughts about gaming - a person is so preoccupied by the idea of gaming that they will crave their next gaming session and focus constantly on previous gaming activity
Uses gaming to alter low mood - a compulsion to play video games to escape from an uncomfortable situation, or to mask underlying symptoms of stress, depression or anxiety
Whether your gaming addiction is exclusive to single-player or multiplayer games, there are emotional and social symptoms of gaming addiction to look out for. These may include:
Depending on whether someone is struggling with single-player gaming addiction, or multiplayer video game addiction, they may experience slightly different symptoms.
Advancement in gaming technology in recent years has led to increasing realism and a heightened sense of immersion into video game worlds. These updates attract gamers as they can experience and explore new dimensions.
Because of these advances, research suggests two common causes for gaming addiction. These are:
As with other compulsive behaviour that can lead to an addiction, the levels of the ‘happy’ chemical, dopamine, which is released when you play a video game, may be one factor.
Dopamine is released when you take part in any pleasurable activity, like when you eat, watch a film, or play sports. It's linked to the reward system in your brain and is also involved in regulating problem solving and memory, which all play a part in your urges to play video games.
Researchers believe that abnormally high levels of dopamine could make some people more predisposed than others to developing an addiction, as your brain begins to associate gaming with a pleasurable dopamine release, making it difficult to stop a cycle of compulsive behaviour without professional treatment and support.
It's common for gaming addiction to co-occur alongside substance addictions or mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Because of this, it's believed that your emotions might play a significant role in the development of gaming addiction.
If you're regularly experiencing negative emotions, or are simply going through a period of unhappiness, then turning to computer games in order to ‘escape’ these symptoms can occur.
The achievement systems that are offered in many games can help you feel a sense of increased self-esteem and wellbeing that you may find hard to achieve in other aspects of your life. However, these feelings may be short-lived as soon as you stop gaming, meaning that you need more and more game time to avoid negative thoughts and escape your problems.
While it's entirely possible to enjoy playing video games in moderation, or even play a game that you particularly enjoy for an extended period after you have purchased it, the distinction between being an avid gamer and having a gaming addiction can be determined through several key distinctions:
If you, or a loved one, is experiencing any of these symptoms, help for gaming addiction is available as part of our addiction treatment programmes.
Treatment for gaming addiction at Priory is similar to the approach that we use for treating people with other addictions, such as compulsive alcohol or drug use. We offer residential, day care and outpatient addiction programmes.
As part of an addiction programme, we use different therapy types to help you overcome gaming addiction. These include:
If your gaming addiction is particularly severe, you might need inpatient treatment and a 12-step rehabilitation programme. This is an environment where there's no or limited access to gaming technology, with an additional focus on learning behaviours to cope with underlying mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety or stress, which may be contributing to your addictive gaming behaviour.
It's important to know that nobody has to suffer with gaming addiction on their own; help is available. Enquire about support today and we can provide all the information you need to know about our treatment plans and how you can tackle gaming addiction.
We are a registered and approved provider for all of the UK's leading private medical insurers. All of the services we offer at Priory can be funded through private medical insurance. This includes:
All clients will have access to our highly skilled and accredited clinicians, many of whom are published experts in their fields of treatment. Whatever your requirements, we're committed to working with you to get your life back on track.
We have addiction treatment centres located throughout the country, ensuring that you can access the support you need in a location that's convenient for you. To find your nearest addiction treatment centre, please use the search form below.