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This sticky contains information about misc. addictions not found in other stickies - included is gambling, internet, porn, and video game addiction information.


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Table of Contents:

- Post 1: Introduction <--- You are here.
- Post 2: When Gambling Stops Being a Game [pamphlet]
- Post 3: Youth Gambling [pamphlet]
- Post 4: College Students & Gambling [pamphlet]
- Post 5: Internet Addiction Information [internet]
- Post 6: Pornography Addiction Information [internet]
- Post 7: Video Game Addiction Information [internet]
- Post 8: Reserved.
- Post 9: Reserved.

Youth Gambling [pamphlet]


What is Gambling?

Gambling involves risking something of value on an uncertain outcome in hopes to increasing value or profit.


What is Problem Gambling?

Gambling is seen as a problem when a person begins to experience negative consequences from their gambling, including guilt, gambling more than intended, and spending less time at school or work.


Youth Gambling Involves Betting Something of Value On:

- Card games
- Dice games
- Video games
- Raffle tickets
- Sports events
- Horse races


Why Do Youth Gamble?

- To escape or cope with problems.
- Peer pressure.
- Depression.
- To make money.
- For fun.
- For excitement.
- Boredom.




What Are the Warning Signs of Problem Gambling?

- Chasing losses or gambling to win back lost money.
- Larger and more frequent bets.
- Preoccupation with gambling.
- Lying about gambling.
- Borrowing or stealing money to gamble.
- Failing grades and/or school absenteeism.


What Are the Negative Ooutcomes of Youth Gambling?

- Poor relationships with friends and family.
- Decrease in academic performance.
- Financial problems.
- Mental health problems.
- Physical health problems (ex: neglecting sleep and nutrition).


What Can Parents Do?

- Talk to your child about gambling.
- Discuss the potential risks.
- Monitor your child's online activities.
- Remind your child that gambling is illegal if you are under 19 years of age.


Resources

Youth Bet
www.youthbet.net

For more information on this and other topics, visit the BC Centre for Social Responsibility at: www.bccsr.ca


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The information in this post belongs to the University of the Fraser Valley and the BC Centre for Social Responsibility. I do not own any of this information, nor am I trying to profit from it.

Internet Addiction Information [internet]


Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_addiction_disorder


Internet addiction disorder (IAD), or, more broadly, Internet overuse, problematic computer use or pathological computer use, is excessive computer use that interferes with daily life. These terms avoid the distracting and divisive term addiction and are not limited to any single cause.

IAD was originally proposed as a disorder in a satirical hoax by Ivan Goldberg, M.D., in 1995. He took pathological gambling as diagnosed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as his model for the description of IAD. It is not however included in the current DSM as of 2009. IAD receives coverage in the press, and possible future classification as a psychological disorder continues to be debated and researched.

Online activities which, if done in person, would normally be considered troublesome, such as compulsive gambling or shopping, are sometimes called net compulsions. Others, such as reading or playing computer games, are troubling only to the extent that these activities interfere with normal life. Supporters of disorder classification often divide IAD into subtypes by activity, such as excessive, overwhelming, or inappropriate pornography use, gaming, online social networking, blogging, email, or Internet shopping. Opponents note that compulsive behaviors may not themselves be addictive.


Possible disorder

There is debate over whether to include "Internet Addiction" as a diagnosis in DSM-V, the next (May 2013) edition of the DSM. Some argue that Internet addiction disorder exists and should be included, and some that it is neither an addiction nor a specific disorder and should not be included in DSM-V.

In June 2007, the American Medical Association declined to recommend to the American Psychiatric Association that they include IAD as a formal diagnosis in DSM-V, and recommended further study of "video game overuse." Some members of the American Society of Addiction Medicine opposed identifying Internet overuse and video game overuse as disorders. Among the research identified as necessary is to find ways to define "overuse" and to differentiate an "Internet addiction" from obsession, self-medication for depression or other disorders, and compulsion.

While the existence of Internet addiction is debated, self-proclaimed sufferers are resorting to the courts for redress. In one American case (Pacenza v. IBM Corp.), the plaintiff argued he was illegally dismissed from his employment in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act because of Internet addiction triggered by Vietnam War-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The case is pending before the court in the Southern District of New York (case summarized in Glaser & Carroll, 2007).

Support
According to Maressa Orzack, director of the Computer Addiction Study Center at Harvard University's McLean Hospital, between 5% and 10% of Web surfers suffer some form of Web dependency.

Another supporter, David Greenfield, Ph.D. of the Center for Internet Behavior conducted a study with ABC News.com in 1999 and is author of Virtual Addiction. He believes that some services available over the Internet have unique psychological properties which induce dissociation, time distortion, and instant gratification, with about 6% of individuals experiencing some significant impact on their lives. However, he says it may not best be seen as an addiction but rather as a compulsion. Greenfield claims that sex, gaming, gambling, and shopping online can produce a mood-altering effect.

According to the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery (whose director is Kimberly S. Young, a researcher who has lobbied for the recognition of net abuse as a distinct clinical disorder), "Internet addicts suffer from emotional problems such as depression and anxiety-related disorders and often use the fantasy world of the Internet to psychologically escape unpleasant feelings or stressful situations." Over 60% of people seeking treatment for IAD claim involvement with sexual activities online which they consider inappropriate, such as excessive attention to pornography or involvement in explicit sexual conversations online. More than half are also addicted to alcohol, drugs, tobacco, or sex.

In 2008 Jerald J. Block, M.D., Hilarie Cash, PhD,[21] Kim McDaniel MA, argued that Internet addiction should be included as a disorder in the DSM-V. Block observed that diagnosis was complicated because 86% of study subjects showing IA symptoms also exhibited other diagnosable mental health disorders. A 2009 study suggested that brain structural changes were present in those classified by the researchers as Internet addicted, similar to those classified as chemically addicted.

Opposition
IAD suffers first from its misleading title. Psychiatrist Dr. Goldberg acknowledges that Internet addiction disorder is not a true addiction and may in fact be no more than a symptom of other, existing disorders. An overbroad description of addiction leaves open the possibility of every compensatory behavior being declared an addiction. For example, a person who has lengthy telephone conversations with a friend to avoid an unpleasant situation could be declared "addicted to the telephone" with equal validity as a person who chats on the Internet with the same underlying goal.

Most, if not all "Internet addicts", already fall under existing diagnostic labels. For many individuals, overuse or inappropriate use of the Internet is a manifestation of their depression, anxiety, impulse control disorders, or pathological gambling. IAD is compared to food addiction, in which patients overeat as a form of self-medication for depression, anxiety, etc., without actually being truly addicted to eating.

It is possible that a person could have a pathological relationship with a specific aspect of the Internet, such as bidding on online auctions, viewing pornography, online gaming, or online gambling (which is included under the existing Pathological Gambling), but that does not make the Internet medium itself be addictive. For example, whether gambling is done on a computer or face-to-face does not affect whether or not it is pathological; a person with poor impulse control can lose sleep over a suspenseful novel or favorite television show or a computer game or the temptation to click on another web link.

Also, there are significant and critical differences between common Internet activities (e-mail, chatting, web surfing) and pathological gambling, which the IAD notion heavily parallels. The Internet is largely a pro-social, interactive, and information-driven medium, while gambling is seen as a single, anti-social behavior that has very little social redeeming value. So-called Internet addicts do not suffer from the same damage to health and relationships that are common to established addictions.

A complete review of the Internet addiction research at the end of 2008 (Byun et al., 200 cool demonstrated significant, multiple flaws in most studies in this area. The researchers wrote in that article, "The analysis showed that previous studies have utilized inconsistent criteria to define Internet addicts, applied recruiting methods that may cause serious sampling bias, and examined data using primarily exploratory rather than confirmatory data analysis techniques to investigate the degree of association rather than causal relationships among variables." This suggests that much of the prior research done on this issue is invalid.[citation needed]


Prevalence of Internet overuse

The prevalence of IAD can be attributed to the fact that it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between the online and offline worlds. The Internet has tremendous potential to affect the emotions of humans and in turn, alter our self-perception and anxiety levels.

25% of users fulfill Internet addiction criteria within the first six months of using the Internet. Many individuals initially report feeling intimidated by the computer but gradually feel a sense of "competency and exhilaration from mastering the technology and learning to navigate the applications quickly by visual stimulation" (Beard 374). The feeling of exhilaration can be explained by the way IAD sufferers often describe themselves as: bold, outgoing, openminded, intellectually prideful, and assertive.

The Ottawa Sun reports that a 1996 report in the UK "Advances in Psychiatric Treatment" claimed that a "significant minority" suffer from "Internet addiction".

Up to 30% of South Koreans under 18, or about 2.4 million people, are at risk of Internet addiction, said Ahn Dong-hyun, a child psychiatrist at Hanyang University in Seoul who just completed a three-year government-financed survey of the problem.

Data from China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC), as of June 30, 2006, showed that 123 million people had gone online, of which 14.9% were teenagers below 18 years old. Chou and Hsiao reported that the incidence rate of Internet addiction among Taiwan college students was 5.9%. Wu and Zhu identified 10.6% of Chinese college students as Internet addicts.

A leading Beijing judge, Shan Xiuyun, claimed in 2005 that 90% of juvenile crime in the city was Internet-related. The China Communist Youth League claimed in 2007 that over 17% of Chinese citizens between 13 and 17 are addicted to the Internet.


Prevention and correction

In many cases, though not all, Internet overuse corrects itself. Sarah Kershaw wrote for the New York Times in 2005: "It was Professor Kiesler who called Internet addiction a fad illness. In her view, she said, television addiction is worse. She added that she was completing a study of heavy Internet users, which showed the majority had sharply reduced their time on the computer over the course of a year, indicating that even problematic use was self-corrective."

Corrective strategies include content-control software, counseling, and cognitive behavioural therapy.

Families in China have turned to unlicensed training camps that offer to "wean" their children, often in their teens, from overuse of the Internet, resulting in the death of at least one youth.

In August 2009, ReSTART, a residential treatment center for "pathological computer use", opened near Seattle, Washington, United States. It offers a 45-day program intended to help people wean themselves from pathological computer use, and can handle up to six patients at a time.

In November 2009, the government in China banned physical punishment to "wean" teens from the Internet. Electro-shock therapy had already been banned.


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Internet Addiction Test

Internet Addiction Information


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The information in this post was taken from Wikipedia and the internet. I do not claim to own any of this information, nor am I trying to profit from it.

Video Game Addiction Information [internet]


Taken: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_addiction


Video game addiction, or more broadly video game overuse, is excessive or compulsive use of computer and video games that interferes with daily life. Instances have been reported in which users play compulsively, isolating themselves from, or from other forms of, social contact and focusing almost entirely on in-game achievements rather than broader life events.There is no diagnosis of video game addiction, although it has been proposed for inclusion in the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).


Possible disorder

Video game addiction is not included as a diagnosis in either the DSM or the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.

However, the effects (or symptoms) of video game overuse are similar to those of other proposed psychological addictions. Video game overuse may be, like compulsive gambling, an impulse control disorder.

In 2007, the American Psychological Association reviewed whether or not video game addiction should be added in the new DSM to be released in 2012. The conclusion was that there was not enough research or evidence to conclude that video game addiction was a disorder.


Public concern and formal study

A report by the Council On Science And Public Health to the AMA cited a 2005 Entertainment Software Association survey of computer game players and noted that players of MMORPGs were more likely to play for more than two hours per day than other gamers. In its report, the Council used this two-hour-per-day limit to define "gaming overuse", citing the American Academy of Pediatrics guideline of no more than one to two hours per day of "screen time". However, the ESA document cited in the Council report does not contain the two-hour-per-day data.

In a 2005 Tom's Games interview, Dr. Maressa Orzack estimated that 40% of the players of World of Warcraft (an MMORPG) were addicted, but she did not indicate a source for the estimate. She may have derived the estimate from the informal survey managed by Nick Yee at The Daedalus Project, who notes that caution should be exercised when interpreting these data.

A 2006 lecture reported by the BBC indicated that 12% of polled gamers reported at least some addictive behaviours. The lecturer, Professor Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University, stated in another BBC interview that addicts are "few and far between."

In 2007, Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming for Parks Associates (a media/technology research and analysis company), said that "Video game addiction is a particularly severe problem in Asian countries such as China and Korea." Results of a 2006 survey suggested that 2.4% of South Koreans aged 9 to 39 suffer from game addiction, with another 10.2% at risk of addiction.

A 2007 Harris Interactive online poll of 1,187 US youths aged 8–18 gathered detailed data on youth opinions about video game play. About 81% of youths stated that they played video games at least once per month. Further, the average play time varied by age and sex, from eight hours per week (responses from teen girls) to 14 hours per week (responses by teen boys). "Tweens" (8–12-year-olds) fell in the middle, with boys averaging 13 hours per week of reported game play and girls averaging 10. Harris concluded that 8.5% "can be classified as pathological or clinically 'addicted' to playing video games", but did not explain how this conclusion was reached.

Since the American Psychological Association decision in 2007, studies have been conducted at Stanford University School of Medicine related to video game play. Researchers found evidence that video games do have addictive characteristics. An MRI study found that the part of the brain that generates rewarding feelings is more activated in men than women during video game play.

Media coverage
The press has reported concerns over online gaming since at least 1994, when Wired Magazine mentioned a college student who was playing a MUD for 12 hours a day instead of attending class.

Press reports have noted that some Finnish Defence Forces conscripts were not mature enough to meet the demands of military life and were required to interrupt or postpone military service for a year. One reported source of the lack of needed social skills is overuse of computer games or the Internet. Forbes termed this overuse "Web fixations" and stated that they were responsible for 13 such interruptions or deferrals over the five years from 2000-2005.

In a July 2007 article, Perth, Western Australia, parents stated that their 15-year-old son had abandoned all other activities to play RuneScape, a popular MMORPG. The boy's father compared the condition to heroin addiction.

In an April 2008 article, Telegram.co.uk reported that surveys of 391 players of Asheron's Call showed that 3% of the respondents suffered from agitation when they were unable to play, or missed sleep or meals to play. The article reports that University of Bolton lead researcher Dr. John Charlton stated, "Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming."

On March 6, 2009, the CBC's national newsmagazine program the fifth estate aired an hour-long report on video game addiction and the Brandon Crisp story, titled "Top Gun", subtitled "When a video gaming obsession turns to addiction and tragedy".

Governmental concern
In August 2005, the government of the People's Republic of China, where more than 20 million people play online games, introduced an online gaming restriction limiting playing time to three hours, after which the player would be expelled from whichever game they were playing. In 2006, it relaxed the rule so only citizens under the age of 18 would face the limitations. Reports indicate underage gamers found ways to circumvent the measure. In July, 2007, the rule was relaxed yet again. Internet games operating in China must require that users identify themselves by resident identity numbers. After three hours, players under 18 are prompted to stop and "do suitable physical exercise." If they continue, their characters gain 50% of the usual experience. After five hours, their characters gain no experience at all.

In 2008, one of the five FCC Commissioners, Deborah Taylor Tate, stated that online gaming addiction was "one of the top reasons for college drop-outs". However, she did not mention a source for the statement nor identify its position in relation to other top reasons.


Possible symptoms

Excessive use of video games may have some or all of the symptoms of drug addiction or other proposed psychological addictions. Some players become more concerned with their interactions in the game than in their broader lives. Players may play many hours per day, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play, play at work, avoid phone calls from friends and/or lie about play time. Relationships with family and friends and performance at work or school may suffer.


Possible causes

Theorists focus on the built-in reward systems of the games to explain their addictive nature. In reference to gamers such as one suicide in China, the head of one software association was quoted, "In the hypothetical world created by such games, they become confident and gain satisfaction, which they cannot get in the real world."

Researchers at the University of Rochester and Immersyve, Inc. (a Celebration, Florida, computer gaming Think-tank) investigated what motivates gamers to continue playing video games. According to lead investigator Richard Ryan, they believe that players play for more reasons than fun alone. Ryan, a motivational psychologist at Rochester, says that many video games satisfy basic psychological needs, and players often continue to play because of rewards, freedom, and a connection with other players.

Michael Brody, M.D., head of the TV and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, stated in a 2007 press release that "... there is not enough research on whether or not video games are addictive." However, Dr. Brody also cautioned that for some children and adolescents, "... it displaces physical activity and time spent on studies, with friends, and even with family."

Dr. Karen Pierce, a psychiatrist at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, sees no need for a specific gaming addiction diagnosis. Two or more children see her each week because of excessive computer and video game play, and she treats their problems as she would any addiction. She said one of her excessive-gaming patients "...hasn't been to bed, hasn't showered...He is really a mess."


Prevention and correction

Some countries, such as South Korea, China, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States, have responded to the perceived threat of video game addiction by opening treatment centers.

Because few clinical trials and no meta-analyses have been completed, research is still in the preliminary stages for excessive gaming treatment. The most effective treatments seem to be, as with addictions or dependencies, a combination of psychopharmacology, psychotherapy and twelve-step programs.

China
The Chinese government operates several clinics to treat those suffering from overuse of online games, chatting and web surfing. Treatment for the patients, most of whom have been forced to attend by parents or government officials, include various forms of pain or uneasiness. In August 2009, Deng Sanshan reportedly threw himself off of a roof of a correctional facility for video game and Web addiction after having been beaten and physically and mentally abused.

The Netherlands
In June 2006, the Smith and Jones Clinic in Amsterdam became the first treatment facility in Europe to offer a residential treatment program for compulsive gamers. Keith Bakker, founder and head of the clinic, has stated that 90% of the young people who seek treatment for compulsive computer gaming are not addicted. The clinic focuses on excess gaming being a result of social situations rather than an addictive dependency.

United States
McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts has set up Computer Addiction Services. Elsewhere, gamers may seek services at generalized addiction support centers.

Online Gamers Anonymous, an American non-profit organization formed in 2002, is a twelve-step, self-help, support and recovery organization for gamers and their loved ones who are suffering from the adverse effects of excessive computer game playing. The organization provides a variety of message boards, several on-line meetings and other tools for healing and support.

In July 2009, ReSTART, a residential treatment center for "pathological computer use", opened in Fall City, near Seattle, Washington.

Canada
At a Computer Addiction Services center in Richmond, British Columbia, excessive gaming accounts for 80% of one youth counselor's caseload.


Notable deaths

Globally, there have been deaths caused directly by exhaustion from playing games for excessive periods of time. There have also been deaths of gamers and/or others related to playing of video games.

China
In 2007, it was reported that Xu Yan died in Jinzhou after playing online games persistently for over 15 days during the Lunar New Year holiday.[60] Later 2007 reports indicated that a 30-year-old male died in Guangzhou after playing video games continuously for three days.

In June 2005, one news agency reported, "Xiao Yi was thirteen when he threw himself from the top of a twenty-four story tower block in his home town, leaving notes that spoke of his addiction and his hope of being reunited with fellow cyber-players in heaven. The suicide notes were written through the eyes of a gaming character ..."

In March 2005, the BBC reported a murder in Shanghai, when Qiu Chengwei fatally stabbed fellow player Zhu Caoyuan, who had sold on eBay a dragon sabre sword he had been lent in a Legend of Mir 3 game, and was given a suspended death sentence.

South Korea
In 2005, Seungseob Lee (Hangul: 이승섭) visited an Internet cafe in the city of Taegu and played StarCraft almost continuously for fifty hours. He went into cardiac arrest, and died at a local hospital. A friend reported: "...he was a game addict. We all knew about it. He couldn't stop himself." About six weeks before his death, his girlfriend, also an avid gamer, broke up with him, and he had been fired from his job for repeated tardiness.

Vietnam
An Earthtimes.org article reported in 2007 that police arrested a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering and robbing an 81-year-old woman. A local policeman was quoted as saying that the boy "...confessed that he needed money to play online games and decided to kill and rob..." the victim. The article further related a police report that the murder by strangling netted the thief 100,000 Vietnamese dong (US$6.20).

United States
Press reports in November 2005 state that Gregg J. Kleinmark, 24, plead "guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter". He "left fraternal twins Drew and Bryn Kleinmark unattended in a bathtub for 30 minutes, in order to go three rooms away and play on his Game Boy Advance" while "in the mean time, the two ten-months old kids drowned".

Tyrone Spellman, 27, of Philadelphia, was convicted of third-degree murder for killing his 17-month old daughter in a rage over a broken Xbox.

Ohio teen Daniel Petric shot his parents, killing his mother, after they took away his copy of Halo 3 in October 2007. In a sentencing hearing after the teen was found guilty of aggravated murder, the judge said, "I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever." On 16 June 2009, Petric was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison.

Canada
Brandon Crisp, an Ontario 15-year-old, ran away from home on Thanksgiving Monday in 2008 after his parents took away his Xbox 360 due to falling grades and excessive play of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He was last seen alive on a bicycle trail. His body was found weeks later, about three miles away, by a party of hunters. An autopsy determined that he died when he fell from a tree.


In popular culture

- In L.A. 7 episode, Game Boy, Bradley becomes addicted to a game, forcing Tina, Hannah, and Paul to go look for Spike, the teen game designer who created the game.

- The South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" parodies many aspects of game addiction.

- The South Park episode "Guitar Queer-o" features a made-up game called "Heroin Hero", to which people develop a drug-like addiction.

- In The Simpsons episode "Marge Gamer", Marge suffers from overuse of an MMORPG.

- In the CSI: Miami episode "Urban Hellraisers", a suspect is found dead after playing a game for seventy hours straight.

- The King of the Hill episode "Grand Theft Arlen" features Hank addicted to a game.

- In the iCarly episode "iStage an Intervention", Spencer becomes addicted to a game called Pak-Rat (a parody of Pac-Man), forcing Carly to take extreme measures to get him to stop.

- In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Game", William Riker brings a video game from Risa. It stimulates specific parts of the brain, and almost all of the Enterprise crew become addicted to it.

- In The Big Bang Theory episode "The Barbarian Sublimation", Penny becomes addicted to Age of Conan.

- In the Suite Life of Zack and Cody episode "Tiptonline", Zack and Mr. Moseby are addicted to an MMORPG.

- In the Suite Life on Deck episode "Goin' Bananas", Woody becomes addicted to a game called Better Life, a parody of Second Life.

- In Pure Pwnage, Jeremy becomes addicted to World of Warcraft and plays it continuously for six days before passing out and being taken to a mental hospital. He explains his character in the game to a psychologist, who appears to believe that Jeremy is psychotic.


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Video Game Addiction Information

Video Game Addiction - Preteen Kids Culture Article


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The information in this post was taken from Wikipedia and the internet. I do not claim to own any of the information in this post, nor am I trying to profit from it.

Reserved.