Depression more likely if you’re a gamer

A new study has suggested that gamers are more likely to be depressed. In other news, I’m beginning to suspect researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia have had cameras in my bedroom the last few months. Participants in the project reported:

“lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status, and to mental-health concerns.”

Rather than gamers being more susceptible to depression, researchers think the illness comes first, and argue that videogames act as an escape route for depressed individuals. Games, they suggest, become a form of self-medication, helping players forget about problems in the real world. As one researcher told MSNBC:

“Habitual use of video games as a coping response may [provide] a genesis for obsessive-compulsive video-game playing, if not video-game addiction.”

The study concludes by offering a profile of the typical gamer:

“The average gamer is 35, overweight, and more likely to be depressed.”

Ha, well that’s wrong. ‘Cause I’m 29. IN YOUR FACE, SCIENCE.

[Via Yahoo! Games]