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Psychiatrist: Gaming Addicts More Ashamed Than Porn Addicts |
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Written by cLouD
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Wednesday, 11 June 2008 |
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Speaking with the
Boston Globe, Oregon psychiatrist Dr. Jerald Block expressed his
opinion that "language barrier" between gaming addicts and their
psychiatrists limits their treatment effectiveness
"[Dr. Jerald Block] believes that
psychiatry needs to do a lot of catching up in order to understand why
people get stuck in games like Warcraft. One problem: Most therapists
have no idea what a "guild" is or what it means to hit Level 60.
Because of this language barrier, many gamers wind up begging for help
in online support groups rather than seeking out mental health
professionals."
Dr. Block published an editorial in the
American Journal of Psychiatry arguing that "Internet Addiction" should
become a new diagnostic term.
Interestingly, Dr. Block revealed that addicted gamers feel worse about their habit than those addicted to pornography.
BLOCK:
Some people come in for trouble with Internet porn. But the computer
gamers tend to be harder to treat. People feel a lot of shame around
computer games. Whereas, it's socially acceptable to have a porn
problem.
Boston Globe: You can't be serious. You mean your clients are more ashamed of ...
BLOCK: ...playing World of Warcraft than looking at porn. Yes.
Boston Globe: Why?
BLOCK:
As a society we understand that porn is something people do, and you
can see a psychiatrist and get treated for it. But gaming is hard to
describe to anyone else. So these people can't explain their situation
to friends. In fact, it's hard to give you an example of what my
clients talk about, because gaming is enormously complicated.
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