The answer is YES.
In an earlier post I briefly talked about my hypothesis about video games causing my own anxiety disorder. As a college student (and former video game addict), I have been much too busy recently to play video games. While one would expect that the demands of college would make anxiety worse, the opposite was true for me. Today, for no particular reason, I tried playing some old-school Super Nintendo Donkey Kong (the original). I noticed that the game REALLY PISSED ME OFF. My heart was racing, my chest was tightening, my hands were becoming sweaty--I was having a fight-or-flight reaction. It made me wonder if playing video games heavily since the age of 4 has had an effect on my psychology. I then began to think that perhaps the video games themselves don't cause the anxiety disorder, but a symptom does. A symptom of chronic fight-or-flight reactions is paranoia. If a person is constantly (more or less) in a state of paranoia (in whatever degree) this will impact how they perceive the world. In other words, being chronically in the 'offensive/defensive' causes a person to always be on the lookout for potential danger, causing them to see the world as being a dangerous place.
My anxiety was at its worse during the time I played World of Warcraft (from person experience, this game can cause intense adrenal rushes). The vast majority of games exploit the craving people have for excitement. It's counter-intuitive that people would love to do something that makes them angry, but I hypothesis that it is precisely this reaction that cause the video game craving. Essentially its an addiction to anger/stress
Random thought: wife-beating husbands also crave this anger induced fight-or-flight response which provides an emotional high.
This semester at the college, there was this kid that was on the other end of the hallway where I was. I would always hear him yelling and swearing up a storm (at first I thought he was insane, then I found out he was a video game addict). In short, it seems very plausible that video game addiction (or more specifically a stress addiction) can be the root cause of anxiety disorder (social phobia, general anxiety, etc). Video games may not only be linked to a way array of anxiety disorders, but may also be linked to anger problems, hypertension, depression, paranoia etc.
For more information on this, surf the Google, and/or check out the link below.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/she-bets-her-life/201101/video-gaming-can-cause-depression-anxiety-and-social-phobia-2
In an earlier post I briefly talked about my hypothesis about video games causing my own anxiety disorder. As a college student (and former video game addict), I have been much too busy recently to play video games. While one would expect that the demands of college would make anxiety worse, the opposite was true for me. Today, for no particular reason, I tried playing some old-school Super Nintendo Donkey Kong (the original). I noticed that the game REALLY PISSED ME OFF. My heart was racing, my chest was tightening, my hands were becoming sweaty--I was having a fight-or-flight reaction. It made me wonder if playing video games heavily since the age of 4 has had an effect on my psychology. I then began to think that perhaps the video games themselves don't cause the anxiety disorder, but a symptom does. A symptom of chronic fight-or-flight reactions is paranoia. If a person is constantly (more or less) in a state of paranoia (in whatever degree) this will impact how they perceive the world. In other words, being chronically in the 'offensive/defensive' causes a person to always be on the lookout for potential danger, causing them to see the world as being a dangerous place.
My anxiety was at its worse during the time I played World of Warcraft (from person experience, this game can cause intense adrenal rushes). The vast majority of games exploit the craving people have for excitement. It's counter-intuitive that people would love to do something that makes them angry, but I hypothesis that it is precisely this reaction that cause the video game craving. Essentially its an addiction to anger/stress
Random thought: wife-beating husbands also crave this anger induced fight-or-flight response which provides an emotional high.
This semester at the college, there was this kid that was on the other end of the hallway where I was. I would always hear him yelling and swearing up a storm (at first I thought he was insane, then I found out he was a video game addict). In short, it seems very plausible that video game addiction (or more specifically a stress addiction) can be the root cause of anxiety disorder (social phobia, general anxiety, etc). Video games may not only be linked to a way array of anxiety disorders, but may also be linked to anger problems, hypertension, depression, paranoia etc.
For more information on this, surf the Google, and/or check out the link below.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/she-bets-her-life/201101/video-gaming-can-cause-depression-anxiety-and-social-phobia-2
