4 ms·

Yet the same organisation that seems to care so much about giving every little addiction it's own name also lumps every variety of autism under the same umbrell

Yet the same organisation that seems to care so much about giving every little addiction it's own name also lumps every variety of autism under the same umbrella term.

creep 8y ago
This is the same with schizophrenia as well-- which is also a spectrum.
mmirate 8y ago
Each addiction clearly and openly differs in the object of addiction. Whereas, with autisms, we don't yet know how to analyze symptoms well enough for there to be a bijection between set-of-symptoms and underlying-autism-variant; indeed, we can barely even separate autism's causes and effects, if at all.
- Semirhage 8y ago
  The activity which is addictive varies, but the underlying physiological mechanism seems to be essentially identical from cocaine abuse to gambling. Defining the disorder by the pathology rather than an obtuse collection of symptoms which have a tendency to overlap and merge might be too much for psychology, but it’s the scientific thing.
  - mmirate 8y ago
    Well, that says more about the current state of the field of psychology, than about the task at hand. :)
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > The activity which is addictive varies, but the underlying physiological mechanism seems to be essentially identical from cocaine abuse to gambling. No, it doesn't. There seem to likely be some similar key mechanisms involved, but the shared mechanisms aren't the whole story, otherwise someone addicted to something would be addicted to everything. We give different diagnoses for different allergies, even though allergies have a common key mechanism.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  Is video game addiction fundamentally different from gambling addiction? Especially when comparing video poker machines, it's just like a video game.
  - Raidion 8y ago
    I don't think so, gambling is based on the risk/reward thrill, coupled with the fact that "if I just hit the big one, I can do other activity that I want to do, but can't afford". I don't feel like many people go into the casino like, "if I win it big at $5, I'm gonna go play 100 dollar a hand blackjack!" Video games don't have that risk/reward in as nearly as a tangible sense. Though you could argue that games like EVE Online, where in game resources have a direct comparison to hard cash. Ie, you can grind up a capital ship in game, or you can theoretically purchase enough ISK (in game currency, about $11,000 USD in this case) to buy one outright. Video games have less risk/reward, are focused internally, and have more greed and achievement. If I'm able to clear this raid, I'm able to get X, which will allow me to do Y in the same game, which will make it easier to attempt Z, etc. No one plans to play 5 dollar blackjack so they can play 100 dollar blackjack.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Yet the same organisation that seems to care so much about giving every little addiction it's own name Because diagbostic criteria need to be different for different subject matter, and no suitable generalization had been identified. > also lumps every variety of autism under the same umbrella term. Because there is a continuum of manifestations and not clear differentiated kinds with crisp, clinically meaningful boundaries or subject matter.

Yet the same organisation that seems to care so much about giving every little addiction it's own name also lumps every variety of autism under the same umbrella term.

creep 8y ago

This is the same with schizophrenia as well-- which is also a spectrum.

mmirate 8y ago

Each addiction clearly and openly differs in the object of addiction. Whereas, with autisms, we don't yet know how to analyze symptoms well enough for there to be a bijection between set-of-symptoms and underlying-autism-variant; indeed, we can barely even separate autism's causes and effects, if at all.

Semirhage 8y ago
The activity which is addictive varies, but the underlying physiological mechanism seems to be essentially identical from cocaine abuse to gambling. Defining the disorder by the pathology rather than an obtuse collection of symptoms which have a tendency to overlap and merge might be too much for psychology, but it’s the scientific thing.
- mmirate 8y ago
  Well, that says more about the current state of the field of psychology, than about the task at hand. :)
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > The activity which is addictive varies, but the underlying physiological mechanism seems to be essentially identical from cocaine abuse to gambling. No, it doesn't. There seem to likely be some similar key mechanisms involved, but the shared mechanisms aren't the whole story, otherwise someone addicted to something would be addicted to everything. We give different diagnoses for different allergies, even though allergies have a common key mechanism.
toomanybeersies 8y ago
Is video game addiction fundamentally different from gambling addiction? Especially when comparing video poker machines, it's just like a video game.
- Raidion 8y ago
  I don't think so, gambling is based on the risk/reward thrill, coupled with the fact that "if I just hit the big one, I can do other activity that I want to do, but can't afford". I don't feel like many people go into the casino like, "if I win it big at $5, I'm gonna go play 100 dollar a hand blackjack!" Video games don't have that risk/reward in as nearly as a tangible sense. Though you could argue that games like EVE Online, where in game resources have a direct comparison to hard cash. Ie, you can grind up a capital ship in game, or you can theoretically purchase enough ISK (in game currency, about $11,000 USD in this case) to buy one outright. Video games have less risk/reward, are focused internally, and have more greed and achievement. If I'm able to clear this raid, I'm able to get X, which will allow me to do Y in the same game, which will make it easier to attempt Z, etc. No one plans to play 5 dollar blackjack so they can play 100 dollar blackjack.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Yet the same organisation that seems to care so much about giving every little addiction it's own name Because diagbostic criteria need to be different for different subject matter, and no suitable generalization had been identified. > also lumps every variety of autism under the same umbrella term. Because there is a continuum of manifestations and not clear differentiated kinds with crisp, clinically meaningful boundaries or subject matter.