Doctors at the American Medical Association’s annual meeting turned down the idea of declaring excessive video game playing as an addiction. Classifying it as such would have put video game playing in the same medical category as alcoholism, obsessive compulsive disorder, or other substance abuse disorders.

Were video game addiction to be declared a physiological disease all its own, the door would be opened to researching specific treatment options and manifestations of the disorder. A group of physicians had proposed the idea to the AMA but agreed with the decision that more research would be needed before any such classification.

The issue will be reconsidered in five years time, when the AMA will be ready to publish its next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In order to include video game addiction in the next manual, it will also have to meet the approval of the American Psychiatric Association.

There are healthcare professionals that are eager to address the issue of video gaming addiction as a legitimate mental disorder. Dr. Thomas Allen of the Osler Medical Center in Towson, Maryland says, "Working with this problem is no different than working with alcoholic patients. [There is] the same denial, the same rationalization, the same inability to give it up."

There have been many cases of adolescents dealing with the issue of excessive video game usage who have become socially isolated and have abandoned certain aspects of daily life such as bathing, working or even eating.

The issue will continue to be debated upon and the AMA will give recommendations to delegates voting on the issue later in the week.