The World Health Organization has decided to add “gaming addiction” to its list of addictive behavior disorders included in the 2018 International Classification of Diseases.
The ICD-11 includes codes and disease symptoms and is used by healthcare professionals all over the world. In an upcoming draft expected to be released soon, WHO describes gaming addiction as a “pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior which may be online or offline.”
The classification doesn’t say that all video game playing is a mental health disorder, but when done excessively over the period of a year that it could be diagnosed and treated as such.
The American Psychological Association’s 2015 policy statement warned of a link between violent video game use and aggressive behavior. This is a controversial view, however, and other say such games relieve stress and help boost memory.
Putting gaming ahead of other “life interests and daily activities,” is also considered unhealthy.
The UK Addiction Treatment Centre’s spokesman told the Telegraph, “It’s very interesting to see that the WHO are adding Gaming Disorder as a mental health condition as of 2018,” adding, “What we have seen at UKAT already is a 300 per cent rise in the amount of admissions where gaming addiction is part of their reason for treatment since 2014.”
