WHO to classify ‘gaming addiction’ as mental health disorder
As a medic this isn't news but I'll make a quick recap
The World Health Organization is likely to classify as “gaming addiction” an addictive behavior disorder, similar to gambling disorder, in its 2018 International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), according to a beta draft posted on the ICD website.
It classifies it as:
“pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior which may be online or offline.”
The description says that the addiction may manifest by impaired control over gaming onset, frequency, intensity, duration or context, increasing priority giving to gaming so much so that it takes precedence of over aspects of daily life, and continuing or escalating gameplay despite negative consequences.
That's likely to all mental illness, we all have a little of them inside, but when they AFFECT YOUR DAILY LIFE, then it's a problem.
These symptoms normally must appear over a period of 12 months for a diagnosis.
This does not mean that all involved in video game playing is a mental health disorder, but rather that excessive gaming over a period of time can lead to diagnosis and treatment.
Like everything in life.
The upcoming ICD, in its 11th update, will allow doctors and health care workers, (That's me!), to classify gaming addiction as a mental health condition.
This is not new, since the Internet Gaming Disorder was in the DSM - 5 since 2014 (Book of all psychiatric disorders)
