World Health Organization Officially Recognizes ‘Gaming Disorder’

It’s not uncommon for people to get addicted to games. Much like any other kind of addiction, they find it impossible to resist the urge to play games or to stop after they have been playing for more than what many would consider being a healthy period of time. Those who get caught up in it often face a lot of difficulty in kicking the habit and in a bid to raise more awareness about the matter, the World Health Organization has officially recognized “gaming disorder” by including it in the latest edition of its Internal Classification of Diseases.

According to the newly updated classification, there are three major signs to diagnose gaming disorder in a person. They include: “Impaired control over gaming (e.g. onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context), Increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities, and Continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.”

The symptoms are similar to what one can see in someone who is addicted to gambling, for example, as the WHo says that disorders due to “addictive behaviors include gambling disorder and gaming disorder, which may involve both online and offline behaviour.”

The WHO does mention, though, that the prevalence of gaming disorder is very low,” and that while millions of people across the globe love intense gaming sessions, it would be difficult to qualify them as people suffering from gaming disorder just on the basis of that.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Gaming