Last updated: November, 2025
Gaming can be an enjoyable and creative activity: a way to relax, connect, and even learn. Yet for some, what begins as a harmless hobby becomes difficult to control. Hours blend into days, responsibilities are neglected, and emotional wellbeing starts to depend on being online. This is where gaming addiction disorder can quietly take hold.
Recognised by the World Health Organization in the ICD-11 and described in the DSM-5 as Internet Gaming Disorder, this condition reflects a growing reality: gaming can become a powerful behavioural addiction, affecting the brain and emotions in ways similar to substance dependence.
What Is Gaming Addiction?
Gaming addiction is characterised by a persistent loss of control over gaming behaviour. A person continues to play despite knowing the negative impact on their health, relationships, or daily life. The goal is not to pathologise enjoyment, but to recognise when gaming stops being fun and starts being a compulsion.
According to the WHO, gaming becomes a disorder when it lasts at least twelve months and leads to clear impairment in functioning. However, many individuals experience problematic gaming even before it reaches this stage. It can appear as long gaming sessions, emotional withdrawal from real-life connections, or using games to escape stress and anxiety.
Gaming itself is not harmful, it’s the imbalance, the dependency, and the emotional disconnection that create risk.
When Gaming Becomes a Disorder
Gaming becomes a disorder when the balance between play and life disappears. This can happen gradually, often without noticing. Someone who once played to relax might find themselves gaming out of habit, stress, or loneliness. Over time, their sense of control weakens.
The issue is not only how long someone plays, but why they play and what they avoid while doing so. Work, studies, relationships, and health may all begin to suffer. The individual may feel guilty after gaming but unable to stop.
Key Signs and Symptoms
While symptoms vary, common indicators of gaming addiction disorder include:
- Constant thoughts about gaming, even while doing other things
- Irritability, restlessness, or sadness when unable to play
- Neglecting meals, sleep, or exercise
- Hiding the amount of time spent gaming
- Struggling to meet work or school obligations
- Losing interest in offline activities
Gaming addiction shares many features with other behavioural addictions: craving, loss of control, and withdrawal when access is limited.
Physical and Mental Effects
Excessive gaming affects both body and mind. Fatigue, eye strain, headaches, and poor posture are common. Lack of movement can lead to muscle pain or circulatory issues. Emotionally, gaming addiction can trigger anxiety, depression, or feelings of emptiness once the screen turns off.
Over time, individuals may begin to confuse virtual achievements with real fulfilment, deepening the emotional disconnect from everyday life.
Causes and Risk Factors
No single cause explains why gaming addiction develops. Instead, it usually emerges from a combination of biological, emotional, and social factors.
People experiencing stress, social isolation, ADHD, anxiety, or depression may be more vulnerable. Gaming becomes a coping mechanism — a way to control emotions, feel accomplished, or escape reality.
Online games also encourage repeated engagement through reward systems, rankings, and community interactions, which stimulate the brain’s dopamine response, the same reward pathway activated in other addictions.
How Gaming Affects the Brain
When we play, the brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivation. This makes gaming feel rewarding and exciting. Over time, the brain starts craving this stimulation, making it harder to stop.
The more someone plays to relieve stress or discomfort, the more the cycle repeats. Understanding this process is essential for recovery — not as blame, but as awareness that addiction is rooted in how the brain learns and adapts.
Effective Treatments for Gaming Addiction Disorders
Treating gaming addiction involves more than limiting screen time. It means addressing underlying emotions, habits, and thought patterns that keep the behaviour alive. Effective treatment combines therapy, emotional support, and lifestyle change.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT is one of the most effective approaches for gaming addiction treatment. It helps individuals recognise the triggers that lead to excessive gaming (such as stress, boredom, or loneliness) and replace them with healthier coping strategies.
Through structured exercises, individuals learn to set boundaries, manage urges, and rebuild self-esteem beyond the game. CBT also supports awareness of the emotional states that often drive addictive behaviour.
Counselling and Psychological Support
Therapeutic counselling offers a space to explore the emotional side of gaming addiction. It helps uncover the personal meanings behind the habit: what gaming provides that real life may be missing.
In some cases, involving family members or close friends can support recovery. Education and communication help create understanding rather than conflict, reducing shame and isolation.
Professional psychological support for gamers focuses on rebuilding balance and reconnecting with the outside world.
Holistic and Behavioural Recovery
A holistic approach treats the whole person, not just the symptoms. This can include mindfulness, gentle physical activity, healthy sleep routines, and restorative time in nature.
Mind-body practices such as yoga, meditation, or creative therapy support emotional regulation and help restore a sense of calm. Sustainable recovery happens when both the mind and body regain stability.
Recovering from Gaming Addiction at Hacienda Paradiso in Spain
Located in Málaga, Hacienda Paradiso offers a peaceful setting for individuals seeking help with gaming addiction and other behavioural disorders.
Here, recovery happens in a calm environment surrounded by nature. Treatment combines evidence-based therapies (such as CBT and holistic care) with personalised attention from experienced professionals. The goal is not only to stop excessive gaming, but to rediscover joy, presence, and connection in everyday life.
Each programme is tailored to individual needs, integrating therapeutic work, rest, and emotional healing in a way that feels supportive rather than clinical. For many, the natural rhythm of the surroundings helps restore what constant screen time has taken away: focus, balance, and inner peace.
Frequently Asked Questions: Gaming Addiction Disorders
People with gaming addiction often lose control over how much they play. They may feel anxious or restless when not gaming, struggle to stop despite negative consequences, and neglect sleep or responsibilities.
Gaming addiction can increase stress, anxiety, and depression. Emotional highs and lows linked to gaming can disrupt self-esteem and make it harder to manage daily emotions.
Yes. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and counselling are proven to help by addressing triggers and building healthier coping mechanisms. Therapy helps restore balance and emotional awareness.
Treatment duration varies by individual needs, but most structured programmes last between four and eight weeks. Ongoing therapy and lifestyle adjustments continue beyond the initial phase.
At Hacienda Paradiso, treatment blends clinical expertise with holistic care in a serene natural environment. Each recovery journey is supported by compassion, professionalism, and a focus on sustainable change.
