Focusing Fun for ADHD - Games to Help Kids Practice Focus
Learn "Silent Ball" and other techniques to develop attention skills with ADHD expert Dr. Jeff Sosne. Dr. Sosne has led The Children' ...
Video Games: What You'd Really Rather Not Know
A survey of a national sample of more than 1,000 8- to 18-year-olds concluded that 8.6% of video gamers are pathological players, according to the criteria established for pathological gambling ( Psychol. Sci. 2009;20:594-602 ). Thats consistent with study results from other countries.
In South Korea, a nation of 49 million where Internet addiction disorder (IAD) is a recognized diagnosis, 250,000 patients younger than age 18 are in treatment for this condition, said Dr. Rich, who is also director of the video intervention/prevention assessment program at the hospital and an adolescent medicine specialist at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
American children who meet the Korean criteria for IAD have higher levels of obsessive-compulsive behaviors; more depression, anxiety, and paranoid ideation; and lower scores for interpersonal sensitivity than do controls.
An intriguing but poorly understood interplay exists between IAD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The prevalence of IAD is significantly higher among American children with ADHD. Moreover, when youths with ADHD play video games, their ADHD symptoms subside. And when children who meet the criteria for IAD but dont have ADHD are placed on methylphenidate (Ritalin) their IAD symptoms decrease, he said at the meeting.