Here's a novel thought: perhaps the OP is in therapy for a reason besides World of Warcraft? See, there are these things called mental illnesses... yeah, turns out more than quarter of us in the western world are going to experience one throughout our lifetimes. So, it shouldn't necessarily be naturally assumed that the OP is seeing a therapist just 'cause they play Warcraft too much. On the other hand, I'm not saying full disclosure isn't desirable—OP, one of the most important aspects of the majority of therapies is the doctor/patient or therapist/client relationship. The healthier you keep it, the better therapy will go, unless you're involved in one of a couple specific forms of therapy like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (which is actually a great treatment for a lot of things, just structured a bit differently than traditional psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive/behavioral &c. therapies). Anyway, Iknoweverything, you're an asshole for assuming that the person hasn't told their therapist because they are somehow weak or don't want therapy. Hey, you're also an asshole for assuming that the OP's problem can be solved for "getting a life!" You're a multidimensional jerk, howsabout that.

41, I'm amazed that only you and a few others have thought of that

mental illness usually lasts a lifetime, except sometimes depression, sometimes post traumatic stress disorder, and post-partum depression can be treated and go away... you just don't 'develop one and it goes away.' one of my best friends from high school developed schitzophrenia in her early twenties and is now zonked out on psych meds. that, social anxiety disorders, panic attacks, bipolar/manic depression and drug addiction last a lifetime. although some will argue that drug addiction is not a disease, but a behavior, the American Medical Assn. has stated that drug addiction is indeed a disease. That subject is touchy with me, myself being a heroin addict for 3 years. (I have been clean since 2003) and I don't think it is a disease. But that is a touchy subject that everyone has a strong opinion, so I am not even going to go there. Kids and teenagers who play video games all day long most likely end up being overweight, teased in school, etc. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PLAYING OUTSIDE ALL DAY? When I was little me and my sister went out at 9am and came back in only for lunch and dinner and stayed out til dark in the summer. Driving around, I rarely see kids out playing, no swingsets in backyards, the majority of kids are shut in their bedrooms chatting online behind a facade or playing videogames under the same facade.

Actually, 104... Pretty much everything you said about mental illnesses is incorrect. Lots of mental illnesses can be treated, and lots also enter "spontaneous remission," where they just kind of go away, sometimes for a while, sometimes forever. The example that you give, schizophrenia, follows what we in the industry call the "rule of thirds": about a third of the cases are severe, entirely life-altering and life-ruining, where the sufferer even while undergoing medication will still experience psychosis and/or the negative symptoms; another third will live for the rest of their lives on medication, generally having a manageable but difficult disease, and may experience some recurrent psychotic episodes, but can generally still function, if not entirely independently; the final third, however, after an initial psychotic episode can function perfectly fine individually and with little to no support. If you're interested in learning more about the different severities of schizophrenia, I recommend you look up the Genain quadruplets, four sisters who all had different "levels," per se, of the disease. It should also be pointed out that cognitive-behavioral therapy generally lasts between 12 and 20 sessions, spread out of the course of months. The goal of these sessions is not to stabilize, but to treat the disorder that the patient/client is experiencing. It isn't nearly as uncommon as you seem to believe that the patient will leave with their disorder under control or in remission.