This term seems to have been coined in the 1990s when researchers were attempting to describe a constellation of behaviors observed in persons using the Internet to such an extent that it began to cause other aspects of their lives to become dysfunctional. The DSM-IV disorder most similar to the pattern of behaviors observed with overuse of video games is pathological gambling. Presumably, the more colloquial term addiction was derived from the similarities to gambling addiction. For this report, this pattern of heavy video game playing is referred to as "video game overuse." (Khan, 2007) Kahn additionally relates that: "Symptoms of time usage and social dysfunction/disruption appear in patterns similar to that of other addictive disorders. It is not clear whether withdrawal symptoms are associated with video game overuse; some excessive users do not exhibit "cravings" for the games if they are unavailable, while other users insist they cannot reduce...
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