THE ADDICTION: A PSYCHODYNAMIC REVIEW OF GAME ADDICTION

Abstract

The behavioral addiction, apart from substance use addiction, is defined by impulsive repetitive actions of the individual and has become one of the relatively new problems in the psychology community. Game addiction, which has similar diagnostic criteria with gambling addiction, is one of the areas of behavioral addiction, and studies on early object relationships, one of the reasons of this field, are very limited. Game addiction, which affects individuals regardless of age group with the developing technology, is explained by the early period unsuccessful object relations. When it comes to the importance of play in adult life, the concept of fantasy is also included in the work. In general, in this study, the irresistible needs of individuals for the controllable depth and colorful aspects of the virtual world were tried to be explained in the context of individuals' past life patterns, ego functions, self and object designs, and the clinical manifestations of behavioral addictions and also the importance of psychodynamic approaches when working with them were emphasized. Keywords: Game addiction, behavioral addiction, psychodynamic aspects of addiction, fantasy