Psychological outlook on video games: an example of the long road to the invention of disorders not associated with substances

Abstract

To talk about the relationship between psychology and video games is to talk almost completely about the studies of the effects video games cause to its users. Therefore, it can be said that most of the psychology matters concerning video games have focused on the effects they have on the users’ personality, health, and psychosocial aspects. This essay gives a recount of the attempts to evaluate the effects video games have on users from a psychological outlook. Thus, the problems video game studies have had due to a conservative ideology that marks the designs of today’s psychology can be observed. Since its recent incorporation as a disorder in the non-substance related addictions section within the DSM-5, until its definitive incorporation into the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), we can clearly identify a timeline of events and processes that have led to the construction of a discourse about the dangers of video games in people’s mental health.