Webinar | Addressing Internet Gaming Addiction: The Basics

About the Presenter

Amanda Giordano
Amanda Giordano, PhD, LPC is an associate professor of counseling at the University of Georgia. She specializes in addiction counseling and has clinical, instructional, and scholarly experience related to both chemical and behavioral addictions. Dr. Giordano is the sole author of a clinical reference book titled, A Clinical Guide to Treating Behavioral Addictions: Conceptualizations, Assessments, and Clinical Strategies and co-author of a textbook titled, Addiction Counseling: A Practical Guide. She works to advance the counseling field with rigorous research and has published over 45 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Dr. Giordano regularly teaches addiction counseling courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. In 2018, she was awarded the Addictions/Offender Educator Excellence Award from the International Association of Addictions & Offender Counselors. Additionally, Dr. Giordano has experience as an editorial board member for several prominent counseling journals including the Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling, Journal of Counseling & Development, and Counseling & Values. She serves on the American Counseling Association (ACA) of Georgia Leadership Council, the board of the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC), and is a member of several other ACA divisions.

Internet gaming addiction is a prevalent concern and is now formally recognized as a disorder by the World Health Organization. Human service professionals must be prepared to recognize, assess, and treat internet gaming addiction with clients across the lifespan.

In this video Amanda Giordano, PhD, LPC will cover:
• What are behavioral addictions?
• An overview of features of gaming, including MMO’s and eSports
• Understanding the continuum between recreational play vs pathological play, as well as discerning between high involvement and addiction
• Prevalence of gaming addiction
• The rewarding nature of gaming and understanding motives to game
• Proposed criteria for DSM-5 for a Gaming Disorder
• Potential negative consequences of gaming
• Assessment instruments and treatment considerations
• Resources for further study

Whether you’re an educator, extension professional, or the like, this live webinar will give you the tools needed to understand and address gaming addiction.