World health organization to recognize excessive gaming as a disorder

The World Health Organization (WHO) will recognize excessive gaming as a disorder next year. That writes New Scientist. There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about the possible addition of the so-called Gaming Disorder.

Gaming Disorder will earn a spot in ICD-11, the eleventh version of the International Classification of Diseases, New Scientist claims. The 2018 version is the first revision of the disease classification since 1990. The WHO has not confirmed the news.

The aforementioned Gaming Disorder means that a patient plays a lot of games and, moreover, does so compulsively; he or she must have tried to stop gaming a lot and failed. In addition, a patient must have lost interest in other elements of life, such as other hobbies. Despite these basic elements, scientists disagree about where the line is and when a person should or should not be diagnosed.

Proponents believe that the inclusion of Gaming Disorder in ICD-11 could help identify problems in people who play excessive amounts of gaming and help address those issues more quickly. Not everyone is for it. A group of scientists argued last year that Gaming Disorder should not end up in ICD-11, because too little good research has been done on the phenomenon. In addition, it would create a stigma for gamers, while that may not be justified.

Gaming Disorder was already mentioned in DSM-5, the standard work of the American Psychiatric Association that many psychologists use, but there it is not regarded as a recognized disorder, but as an object for further study.