Addiction to videogames is now an official mental illness
At the beginning of 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases will include something what they call "gaming disorder," or a mental disorder that manifests itself as a addiction to videogames. Then this disorder was included in the draft of the official document and there was an option to be thrown out of the final version. However, this document yesterday was officially released to the public, with what an addiction to videogames is officially recognized as a psychological disorder.
The descriptions of the document sketch have remained unchanged so it is still arguable that videogame addiction can be diagnosed through three characteristics.
The first is that a patient playing videogames takes precedence over other activities (for example, maintaining personal hygiene).
The second characteristic is that the patient has no control over the activity of playing and continues with it when it notices that it also negatively affects its behavior.
The third characteristic is that an addiction is directed towards other irregularities, such as lack of sleep, problems with digestion, lack of physical activity, and similar.
According to the diagnosis, the disease is present even when these symptoms are constantly present and then when they are repeated at certain intervals. However, addiction can be diagnosed on a behavioral sample of at least 12 months. So take a week of vacation and spend it in a bundle playing videogames for 18 hours a day - you're not addicted or mentally disturbed, at least not yet.
From the World Health Organization points out that getting addicted to gaming is extremely small. They admit that gaming for millions of players in the world is often an intense activity and that there are always exceptions. For example, if you are an esports competitor and you suffer lack of sleep, it does not mean you're a video game addict, or mentally disturbed.
It is worth noting that all psychiatrists do not agree with this classification. Some doctors claim that gaming addiction can often be the wrong diagnosis. As psychiatrists Anthony Bean claims for CNN, people usually use video games to deal better with disorders such as depression or anxiety. In the case that such patients are diagnosed with addiction to videogames, the original problem is neglected.
Bean also points out that the criteria for diagnosing gaming disorders are too wide and that the practice of diagnosis may be too subjective, which is bad because doctors do not understand the players and their habits. In the worst case, they place them in one group, or throw them into the same basket. As Bean claims, someone who plays Minecraft could play that game for quite some other reason than someone who plays World of Warcraft.
"These are two very different genres of video games. If we understand the genres that some people are gravitating to, we can tell a lot about it," Bean says, and concludes that this classification will open Pandora's box and offer the possibility that overdoing in all activities classifies as mental disorders.
Tagged with: Controversy
