"Game disorder" WHO says game addiction is a mental illness

September 02, 2022

From next year, game addiction will become a mental illness.

According to the Spanish "National News" website, next year, the World Health Organization (WHO) will identify the "Gaming Disorder" caused by addictive games as a mental illness, and include the new version of the International Classification of Diseases released next year.

Vladimir Poznyak of the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse said in an interview: WHO has done more than a decade of research and consideration on whether game disorders are included in mental illness. Today, WHO believes it has met the relevant standards.

According to the description in the draft International Classification of Diseases, "game disorder" is characterized by continuous or excessively frequent games, including online games and video games, which are characterized by the following three characteristics.

The first is when you play the game, you can't control the start and stop time, frequency, intensity, duration and situation. The second is to put the priority of playing the game on other important matters and daily activities. Finally, the negative of excessive play. After the consequences have emerged, this pattern of behavior is still maintained and even further strengthened.

Obviously, such people are not uncommon.

Vladimir Pozniak, head of the WHO mental health and substance abuse department, said: "Health care professionals should realize that game disorders can have serious health effects." He also pointed out, "although most People who play games don't create game disorders, just as most people who drink alcohol don't have alcohol disorders, but in some cases, excessive game play can have negative consequences."

The draft said that game disorders can seriously affect life. To determine the disorder of the game, it usually takes a year to diagnose, but this time may be shortened if the symptoms are severe or all conditions for diagnosis are met.

Internet addiction has long been included in mental illness. The earliest Internet addiction standards were developed by China. In November 2008, the first "Clinical Diagnostic Criteria for Internet Addiction" developed by the Beijing Military Region General Hospital passed the expert demonstration, and game addiction was officially included in the category of "mental diseases". In 2013, the Clinical Diagnostic Criteria for Internet Addiction was officially included in the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edited by the American Psychiatric Association.

As early as 2007, some people in the medical profession have advocated that game addiction and alcohol addiction are classified as mental disorders, but at the time, this idea was opposed by experts from the American Addiction Medicine Association. Nowadays, with the popularity of smartphones, the influence of games has greatly increased, and the problem of addiction has become more prominent.

However, given the influence of game companies, the inclusion of game addiction as a disease may trigger controversy, protests and lobbying in the industry. "Game disorder" even entered the WHO's copy, but want to spread to people's common sense, may have to go through some games.

Author:

Ms. Lucia Peng

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