Addiction to what is, symptoms, causes and treatment

Normally, when talking about addictions, we inevitably think about substance consumption. While it is true that these have been widely studied and have received a lot of attention in scientific literature, they are not the only addictions we can find in psychopathology.

Addiction related to the game and more recently addiction to new technologies represent a problem that has also been subject to study. The game (either in casinos, sports bets, slot machines, video games, etc.) It is a playful and apparently harmless activity that, however, can become a problem. Continue reading this psychology-online article in which we deal with the topic of game addiction: what is, symptoms, causes and treatment.

1. What is game addiction
2. Symptoms of game addiction
3. Causes of game addiction
4. Treatment of game addiction

What is game addiction

The addiction to the game has the peculiarity of constituting an addiction without an associated substance consumption. This addiction consists in the appearance of frequent game behaviors that carries with it an economic and high time investment. The need to play can even interfere negatively in daily life From the person in different areas such as labor, social or family.

Game addiction can constitute a psychological disorder if it meets certain diagnostic criteria. The game addiction appears in the DSM-5 diagnostic classifications (American Psychiatric Association) and CIE-11 (World Health Organization).

¿What's the name of the game addiction? In the DSM-5 the pathological game is included in the category "Disorders related to addictive substances and disorders" and more specifically in the sub-section "Substance -related disorders" And in CIE-11 there are two categories "Betting game disorder" and "Video game use disorder" included in "disorders due to addictive behaviors".

Symptoms of game addiction

For the exposure of the clinical characteristics of the pathological game, we will follow Fernández-Montalvo, J. and López-Goñi, J.J. (2014)^[1], who group them in three areas: physiological and emotional, cognitive and behavioral.

Physiological and emotional area

• Patients experience a excitation and/or physiological activation Related to game behavior.
• They can present sleeping problems.
• We can also find Depressive symptoms and anguish generated by economic losses and the payment of possible debts derived from game behavior.
• The cessation of game behavior (or at least the attempt to abandon it) causes irritability and/or nervousness.

Cognitive area

• At cognitive level, the patient will present Concerns for the game and the losses associated with this.
• We can observe cognitive distortions and biases: You can deny your problem, minimize it, present control of control (consider that it controls the results of the game of chance), game strategies, etc.
• It can appear Suicidal ideation.

Behavioral area

• First, the patient Dedicate a lot of time To the game behavior.
• A symptom reminiscent of tolerance that occurs in substance-related addictions and is collected in the DSM-5 is that the person, to achieve the level of excitation you want, Bet increasing amountss of money.
• The patient suffers economic losses Derived from the game, which can lead to play again to try to recover the lost money. These losses give rise to constant debts and defaults. All this causes a spiral from which it is difficult for the patient. This situation can also lead the person to steal or perform criminal acts.
• This whole situation also leads the patient to Lying constantly.

Causes of game addiction

There are different explanatory theories for the origin of the pathological game, although there seems to be no evidence of the superiority of a front of the others.

• Behavioral psychology: This establishes the beginning of the game addiction through the positive reinforcement given by the awards (even if they do not suppose very large awards) and it once lost control, to the negative reinforcement, that is, the avoidance of the discomfort for not playing or The anguish caused by economic losses.
• Behavioral execution mechanism: This theory proposes that, in the face of stimuli related to the game, the patient feels the need to "complete the behavior" (that is, play) since if this does not happen, the person experiences subjective discomfort.
• Psychophysiological activation: These theories postulate that the reinforcer that makes the behavior to repeat itself would be the physiological activation that causes the game.
• Cognitive models: These models propose the existence of cognitive distortions in the development and maintenance of the pathological game. Cognitive biases such as illusion of control, biased evaluation of results, superstitions or selective memory of profits have been found.
• Biological models: From the field of biology, we have also tried to explain what happens in pathological players. In this area, the decrease in neurotransmission of serotonin and norepamine and dopamine has been studied.

Treatment of game addiction

¿How to leave addiction to game? ¿You can get out of the ludopathy alone? The treatment is complex since it must cover all dimensions related to the addiction to the game present in the case to be treated. There are several treatment strategies that include behavioral cognitive therapy to pharmacological treatment (based mainly on anxiolytic and antidepressant drugs.)

At the behavioral level, the stimuli associated with the game are controlled (such as the availability of money, for example) and the live exposure technique with response prevention, so that the desire to play in the patient is caused and taught to control them. Relaxation techniques are also used.

On the other hand, within cognitive treatments it is used:

• Motivational therapy.
• Cognitive restructuring.
• Relapse prevention.

In the following article, you will find more information about the types of addictions and their consequences.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Game addiction: what is, symptoms, causes and treatment, We recommend that you enter our category of addictions.

1. Fernández-Montalvo, J. and López-Goñi, J.J. (2014) pathological game and disturbing disorders of impulse and behavior control. In horseback, v.AND., Salazar, i.C. And Carrobles, J.TO. (2014) Psychopathology Manual and Psychological Disorders. Madrid. Pyramid.