The American Medical Association on Wednesday backed off calling excessive video-game playing a formal psychiatric addiction, saying instead that more research is needed.

A report prepared for the AMA's annual policy meeting had sought to strongly encourage that video-game addiction be included in a widely used diagnostic manual of psychiatric illnesses.

AMA delegates instead adopted a watered-down measure declaring that while overuse of video games and online games can be a problem for children and adults, calling it a formal addiction would be premature.

"There's no science to support it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow, an addiction medicine specialist.

Despite a lack of scientific proof, Jacob Schulist, 14, of Hales Corners, Wis., said he's certain he was addicted to video games and that the AMA's vote was misguided.

Until about two months ago, when he discovered a support group called On-Line Gamers Anonymous, Schulist said he played online fantasy role-playing video games for 10 hours at a time some days.

He said his habit got so severe that he quit spending time with family and friends.

"My grades were horrible, I failed the entire first semester" this past school year because of excessive video-game role playing, he said, adding: "It's like they're your life."

Younger ages more vulnerable

But delegates voted to have the AMA encourage more research on the issue, including seeking studies on what amount of video-game playing and other "screen time" is appropriate for children.

Under the new policy, the AMA also will send the revised video-game measure to the American Psychiatric Association, asking it to consider the full report in the next edition of its diagnostic manual, to be completed in 2012.

Dr. Louis Kraus, a psychiatric association spokesman, said the report will be a helpful resource.

The AMA's report says up to 90 per cent of American youngsters play video games and that up to 15 per cent of them — more than five million kids — might be addicted.

The report, prepared by the AMA's Council on Science and Public Health, also says "dependence-like behaviours are more likely in children who start playing video games at younger ages."

Internet role-playing games involving multiple players, which can suck kids into an online fantasy world, are the most problematic, the report says.

Kraus, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Chicago's Rush Medical Center, said behaviour that looks like addiction in video-game players may be a symptom of social anxiety, depression or another psychiatric problem.