WHO Classifies Gaming Addiction as a Psychological Disorder

[Raevenlord]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has now officially classified gaming addiction as a disorder, thus being listed as a mental health condition that is diagnosable. The WHO announced the new disorder today, which is bound to be included in the organization's 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD) guide, which is due to be published this year.

Despite having its inclusion in the ICD confirmed, gaming addiction as a disorder still doesn't have a finalized transcript. It's still in the draft stages, and at this time, gaming addiction is being described as a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior so severe that it takes "precedence over other life interests". From the draft, the WHO is looking at extended diagnosing periods of at least 12 months until it can be confirmed that someone suffers from this disorder, though the diagnosis time frame can be reduced "if symptoms are severe".





Symptoms for this disorder include:

• impaired control over gaming (frequency, intensity, duration)
• increased priority given to gaming
• continuation or escalation of gaming despite negative consequences

BBC sites Dr. Richard Graham, lead technology addiction specialist at the Nightingale Hospital in London, who welcomes the decision on the grounds that now the issue will be taken seriously; however, the Dr. also shows some reservations in that it will open the floodgates to some concerned parents, whose children might be enthusiastic - but not addicted - gamers. For Dr. Graham, the principal criteria should be whether or not the gaming activity is affecting basic things such as sleep, eating, socializing and education; whether the addiction is "taking up neurological real-estate, dominating thinking and preoccupation".

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[neatfeatguy]

I'd classify work as a Psychological Disorder. I keep going to it every day, Monday thru Friday from 7am to 4pm......I can't seem to get enough of it. I think my condition is severe.

Work takes "precedence over other life interests" and I have a habit of persistent or recurrent work behavior. I haven't been able to shake this for years.....even one job I would put in 13-14 hour days.

 

[Raevenlord]

I'd classify work as a Psychological Disorder. I keep going to it every day, Monday thru Friday from 7am to 4pm......I can't seem to get enough of it. I think my condition is severe.

Work takes "precedence over other life interests" and I have a habit of persistent or recurrent work behavior. I haven't been able to shake this for years.....even one job I would put in 13-14 hour days.

Welcome to our lives, yes, and the slavery to money.

 

[wmarzanm]

and do anyone knows how is called the Facebook addition illness?

 

[Raevenlord]

and do anyone knows how is called the Facebook addition illness?

For the people suffering from it, Fiction.

 

[Dux]

I used to do nothing but gaming. I would wake up, eat, turn on my PC, game, have lunch, game, have dinner, take a shower, game, sleep, repeat. 7 days a week. And i was miserable. But i couldn't help myself. Because it was an addiction. On those rear occasions i wasn't gaming, i was thinking about gaming. Then i made a new years decision going into 2013. No gaming, no TV, no cell phones. I was miserable for a month. Craving for gaming. As time went on, this craving started to disappear. And my mind started to slowly clear up. I was surprised how focused i have become. I could focus 100% on everything i do. Something i wasn't able to do before. Also started to spend a lot more time with my friends and family. And i had more than enough time for everything. Lost weight. Became a lot happier in general.


Not saying gaming is evil bla,bla,bla. Just don't let it consume your entire life. If it does, and you're not a famous youtuber or twitch streamer, then you have a problem.

 

[Kohl Baas]

and do anyone knows how is called the Facebook addition illness?

Let's not shrink that to Facebook alone just because it's the most prominent form of it. What you're looking for is social media addiction and you can include all platforms and/ore media that falls into that category. It's a type of attention whoring, and combined with a smartphone with internet it's just an allways attached drugpump. Whenever your phone dings to a message, you are rewarded with a small dose of dopamine which is basically the essence of all non-chemical addiction like gambling and such. Having your the attention towards you falling, getting less dopamine makes you feel like withdrawal. You'll do anything to avoid it. Making you and more likely children very vulnerable for others to exploit.

It also dangerous because longtime exposure will damage your self-valuation. You will start to measure yourself and others in likes and shares while demolishing your private life either through publication or alteration to publicly better recievable.

 

[Fierce Guppy]

Yeah, that describes my flatmate; as well as being fat (138kg), lazy, and inactive, drinks only Pepsi Max, and goes to bed between 4 and 5am. He's an MMO player heading towards an early grave.

 

[RejZoR]

It's funny how gaming 10 hours a day, every day is a mental disorder, but 10 hours of football a day, every day means dedication. I have a word for that and it's called hypocrisy. This random clueless pissing on gaming is why gamers are defending gaming so furiously.

The reason why I prefer gaming above any other entertainment is because it's unique every time, it doesn't get repeatable and you actively participate in it as anything you want to be. What else is ever so unique? Not sports, not TV series or movies, even social games only tick few of those.

 

[Fierce Guppy]

It's funny how gaming 10 hours a day, every day is a mental disorder, but 10 hours of football a day, every day means dedication. I have a word for that and it's called hypocrisy. This random clueless pissing on gaming is why gamers are defending gaming so furiously.

The reason why I prefer gaming above any other entertainment is because it's unique every time, it doesn't get repeatable and you actively participate in it as anything you want to be. What else is ever so unique? Not sports, not TV series or movies, even social games only tick few of those.

Nah... Any amount of time spent watching football is a mental disorder.

 

[64K]

Sigh. Did they really just go there?

 

[RejZoR]

Nah... Any amount of time spent watching football is a mental disorder.

I wasn't talking about watching football, I was talking about playing it. Watching something so repeatable with exactly same thematic would fall into addiction category faster than being a gamer playing from racing games to shooters and space sims...

 

[Fx]

It would seem that anything someone absolutely loves to do and does a lot is a disorder these days. Of course, there is always a choice of moderation, but who can be the judge of that?

Everyone is their own damn man/woman and deserves the right to do whatever pleases them. It is their own life to live.

You live once; do what makes you happy as long as it doesn't infringe on other people's property or rights.

Screw the WHO.

 

[Upgrayedd]

I CAN DANCE ALL DAY! TRY AND HIT ME! C'MON!

 

[Steve-007UK]

All i see is CBD! Compulsive bullshit disorder.
I've worked many hours a day for years on end, i've gamed many hours a day for years and i do many other things for hours on end so lets just call it all a disorder shell we? MEH FY WHO /spit

Also spent 10000000000000 hours of my life having a laugh with my mate so i guess that should be a disorder? god damn world just F OFFFF with the BS and CBD!!!!!!!!

 

[evernessince]

I'd classify work as a Psychological Disorder. I keep going to it every day, Monday thru Friday from 7am to 4pm......I can't seem to get enough of it. I think my condition is severe.

Work takes "precedence over other life interests" and I have a habit of persistent or recurrent work behavior. I haven't been able to shake this for years.....even one job I would put in 13-14 hour days.

Unfortunate requirement of capitalism. It would be interesting to see what a society would look like that bases success on something other than money.

 

[Nuke Dukem]

Add a question mark to the article's title, gets funnier. How much funnier? WHO knows... I know, I know, I'll see myself out now

I CAN DANCE ALL DAY! TRY AND HIT ME! C'MON!

Every time I get a gun in my hands it just automatically points at somebody's head.

 

[John Naylor]

Well it took them long enough ...

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/08/15/...-die-while-they-played-video-game-261483.html
https://www.thefix.com/content/gaming-addiction-death90412
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/1509...ffects-deaths-due-caused-video-game-addiction
http://listverse.com/2010/11/07/top-10-cases-of-extreme-game-addiction/

Seen it myself when playing an MMO beta back in 2004 ... devs announced that they would be wiping all characters the coming weekend and we were all like 95% of max level and estimated we needed about 100 hours over next 5 days to finish; best I could do was about 20. One woman did, but it cost her her job. Just last year saw a player in game who was obsessing about every facet of the game ... collecting data from forums and using it to create his own "guides". He originally started playing the MMO w/ his wife but she left ... and later came back asking for help in getting her husband to stop playing obsessively.

I agree with the concept of do what you enjoy as long as it doesn't hurt yourself or others ... does that include drinking all day ? Does it count gaming if one is skipping work and get fired ? Does it include doing gaming to the exclusion of all other interests ? Is it still OK when one has mood swings making one anti social or violent when they can't game ? Is it still OK when you lost ya job, can't support your family and wife kids are ready to walk ? Know more than one neighborhood kid who redid a year of college because they recognized there C- average wasn't going to get them where they wanted to be.... one i know well managed close to straight A's going forward.

Granted there's other factors ate work here just as two people from the same genetic / environmental pool can grow up where one has alcohol or other substance abuse issues and one doesn't

 

[Fierce Guppy]

Unfortunate requirement of capitalism. It would be interesting to see what a society would look like that bases success on something other than money.

The requirement is that if you want stuff someone else has then you're expected to trade something in return. Also, extremely few people if anyone in capitalist society base their success on money. It can make the path easier. For many it's the process of bringing up children to be good, self-sufficient adults, but whatever makes one happy that does not harm others. The more you're happy, the more successful you are.

 

[Prima.Vera]

I would say, as the guys already pointed out, that there are way worst life threatening addictions out there, like going to work every day without a chance of escaping, or Social Media.
I consider gaming just an escape from those addictions to be honest, and not an addiction on itself...

 

[Fierce Guppy]

I would say, as the guys already pointed out, that there are way worst life threatening addictions out there, like going to work every day without a chance of escaping, or Social Media.
I consider gaming just an escape from those addictions to be honest, and not an addiction on itself...

Yes. I'm wondering if the Chinese government had influence in this matter given its penchant for forcing gaming "addicted" kids into rehab centres.

 

[notb]

It's funny how gaming 10 hours a day, every day is a mental disorder, but 10 hours of football a day, every day means dedication. I have a word for that and it's called hypocrisy. This random clueless pissing on gaming is why gamers are defending gaming so furiously.

Actually, exercise addiction is also being analyzed for naming as a mental disorder. WHO classification will always be behind general practice and there already are specialized institutions that treat it just like they treat addiction to work, TV, games, smoking, smartphones or anything else.
You can google for things like "digital detox" or "technology detox". They're usually about smartphones, but may include gaming as well.
Gaming (especially for 10h a day) is not a significant problem in global scale. There aren't that many gamers.

The reason why I prefer gaming above any other entertainment is because it's unique every time, it doesn't get repeatable and you actively participate in it as anything you want to be. What else is ever so unique? Not sports, not TV series or movies, even social games only tick few of those.

How about socializing with other people?

 

[RejZoR]

@notb How about not to? Just like for normies, loners/introverts are "weird" and have "mental disorders", I kinda look the same at people who endlessly need to tell the world everything about them and talk to everyone all the time and be loud all the time (aka extroverts).

Especially since my work requires interaction with people for half a day, every day for basically entire week, I want my time alone. I can't understand this modern obsession/requirement of being an extrovert. Whole world is obsessed with this. Being on social networks is almost depressive because of that alone if you're not within that group of people. Well, some of us just don't like being like that or spending time like that.

 

[notb]

@notb How about not to? Just like for normies, loners/introverts are "weird" and have "mental disorders", I kinda look the same at people who endlessly need to tell the world everything about them and talk to everyone all the time and be loud all the time (aka extroverts).

And this is exactly what the smartphone addiction ("digital detox") programs are about: people taking pictures of what they eat at the moment and checking what other people eat.
You've seen this?
https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/26...phoneklemens-schillinger-smartphone-addiction

Especially since my work requires interaction with people for half a day, every day for basically entire week, I want my time alone.

And I totally agree. I also need some time alone. But playing games for 10h a day - at the cost of socializing, sleeping or working - is a problem. It's the "at the cost of" part that turns a habit or a hobby into an addiction.

I can't understand this modern obsession/requirement of being an extrovert.

Isn't it just a result of Internet?
20 years ago people met to say what they've bought last weekend. Some people like to talk for hours about new shoes, some don't.
With Internet, you don't need friends to talk about your shoes. You just need followers. But it's better to have friends.

 

[RejZoR]

Yeah, it's not at any cost for me. I don't skip work to play games (but I don't mind having a day off when I happen to have it off) as for socializing and friends, I didn't have tons of them even before the internet or computer. I mean, I had them, but it was never a group activity. I was always with 1 friend at a time. And those real friends, I maybe had 2 or 3. But with work, them moving away, having families and stuff I kinda lost touch even with those for the most part.