Our world has become both wired and wireless. It seems that almost all aspects of our lives have something to do with computers or television today, and this is becoming a big problem – especially in terms of video game addictions. Can antidepressants treat video game addiction?
The Korean Study on Antidepressants for Video Game Addiction
Korean doctors followed eleven patients who were being treated for video game addiction with the use of antidepressants. What they found in that study was that when a person took antidepressants as prescribed, they actually reduced their video game time by about 35%, which could lead people to believe that antidepressants do work.
However, if the game time was only reduced by 35%, this alone is proof that antidepressants will not completely break a video game addiction. This study was conducted at the Chung Ang University in South Korea, the Euljii University College of Medicine in South Korea, and at the University of Utah in the United States.
So, Antidepressants Will Not Help?
The study did not find that antidepressants will not help with a video game addiction, just that it doesn’t break the addiction. It does, however, result in less time spent playing video games. So, the truest answer to the question is that it helps somewhat, but it isn’t really a viable answer to the problem as a whole.
For true help, you must turn to other alternatives. In extreme cases of addiction, antidepressants may help you get to the point where you are able to look at other alternatives for breaking the addiction. However, if antidepressants are used, they should be used with caution, and with the understanding that this is a temporary solution to a problem that will need more work at a later date.
How Do I Break a Video Game Addiction without Antidepressants?
Even if you use antidepressants at first, there will come a point in time where the medication needs to be set aside, and you need to deal with your addiction in other ways. The best way to break the addiction is to determine that you really want to break that addiction. The next step is to find other things to do, completely away from the video game, the computer, or the television set.
You need to redirect your thoughts, your time, and your energy. Once you do this, you can beat the addiction. Unfortunately, like any other addiction, it is easy to fall back into this addiction, and you cannot expect to truly break the addiction for good if you are still playing video games, regardless of how little you are playing. Wait to play again until you know, for a fact, that you won’t get sucked back in.
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December 28th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
I never heard of antidepressants breaking game addiction nor think of any relation on both topics.
However, if it’s true that you can reduce the playing time by 35%, I think that’s a progress.
But the wrong thing is addiction is like drugs. You’re using drugs to reduce it by supplying drugs too. You’re only doing substitutes. You do not rehabilitate the person.
Like you said, video game addiction can be stopped if the person recognizes he is an addict and he needs to stop. It’s that simple.