Life is not a disease
Gaming fanatics show hallmarks of drug addiction
Excessive computer gaming has the hallmarks of addiction, suggests new experiments on “drug memory”. The researchers argue it should be classified as such, enabling “addicts” to start seeking help. “We have the patients and we have the parents and family members calling us for help,” says Sabine Grüsser of the Charité University Medicine Berlin, in Germany. The research was presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, in Washington DC.
From World of Psychology: http://psychcentral.com/blog/
--------
In the World of Psychology, Dr. Grohol gives this story a well-deserved shredding. My own theory is that some clinical psychologists are addicted to finding new mental disorders. Which they plan to treat. And charge for treating.
I can see a book. “The New Puritans.” “Will psychologists cure us of everything we enjoy?”
The behavior pattern this research describes is what the Thinkerer calls the Hunter. It is determined goal-seeking. To see some more socially acceptable goals, watch any of these movies:
“Erin Brokovich,” “Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail,” “Edison, the Man,” “Rocky (1),” “(Jerry Seinfeld) Comedian.” You can probably get any of these from Blockbuster or Netflix.
In a less dramatic form, you can easily find the hunting behavior in all forms of human competition. And from time to time, it is called an addiction. Football addicts, TV addicts, golf addicts, even workaholics. I think most of these terms came from the media, not psychologists.
You will have noticed that people use unfavorable language to characterize the Hunter when they disapprove of the goal. If there is any genuine problem here, it lies in the choice of the goal, not in the behavior. The most useful choices are those that match short-term goals to long term objectives. People usually make this match by planning.
Planning does not require therapy and the failure to follow long-term plans is not a disease. But…
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If all you have is therapy, everything looks like a disease.
Excessive computer gaming has the hallmarks of addiction, suggests new experiments on “drug memory”. The researchers argue it should be classified as such, enabling “addicts” to start seeking help. “We have the patients and we have the parents and family members calling us for help,” says Sabine Grüsser of the Charité University Medicine Berlin, in Germany. The research was presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, in Washington DC.
From World of Psychology: http://psychcentral.com/blog/
--------
In the World of Psychology, Dr. Grohol gives this story a well-deserved shredding. My own theory is that some clinical psychologists are addicted to finding new mental disorders. Which they plan to treat. And charge for treating.
I can see a book. “The New Puritans.” “Will psychologists cure us of everything we enjoy?”
The behavior pattern this research describes is what the Thinkerer calls the Hunter. It is determined goal-seeking. To see some more socially acceptable goals, watch any of these movies:
“Erin Brokovich,” “Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail,” “Edison, the Man,” “Rocky (1),” “(Jerry Seinfeld) Comedian.” You can probably get any of these from Blockbuster or Netflix.
In a less dramatic form, you can easily find the hunting behavior in all forms of human competition. And from time to time, it is called an addiction. Football addicts, TV addicts, golf addicts, even workaholics. I think most of these terms came from the media, not psychologists.
You will have noticed that people use unfavorable language to characterize the Hunter when they disapprove of the goal. If there is any genuine problem here, it lies in the choice of the goal, not in the behavior. The most useful choices are those that match short-term goals to long term objectives. People usually make this match by planning.
Planning does not require therapy and the failure to follow long-term plans is not a disease. But…
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If all you have is therapy, everything looks like a disease.
posted by Selby Evans at 8:46 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home