Americas

Video game addiction under review

Influential psychiatric handbook lists 'online gaming disorder' as an area of study.
Last Modified: 27 Feb 2013 06:54

Mental health professionals in the US are beginning to recognise a problem with video games--they're addictive.

Though video games rake in $25bn a year for the entertainment industry, there has been little research into their effects on players who have grown up with the medium.

In an effort to change that, the American Psychiatric Association, APA, is including "online gaming disorder" as an area of study in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey talks to one young man in New York who was able to kick the habit.

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