Video game addiction: Real medical disorder?
Video games work hard to hook players. When new games are reviewed, the most flattering accolade might be “I can’t put it down.”
Now the World Health Organization is saying players can actually become addicted.
This month, a new draft of the organization’s International Classification of Diseases was issued that includes an entry on “gaming disorder.”
Concerns about the influence of video games are dovetailing with increasing scrutiny over the harmful aspects of technology, as consumers look for ways to scale back consumption of social media and online entertainment.
The WHO designation could help legitimize worries about video game fans who neglect other parts of their lives. It could also make gamers more willing to seek treatment, encourage more therapists to provide it and increase the chances that insurance companies would cover it.
“It’s going to untie our hands in terms of treatment, in that we’ll be able to treat patients and get reimbursed,” said Dr. Petros Levounis, chairman of the psychiatry department at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. “We won’t have to go dancing around the issue, calling it depression or anxiety or some other consequence of the issue but not the issue itself.”
Around the world, 2.6 billion people play video games, including two-thirds of American households, according to the Entertainment Software Association. Annual
revenue for the industry is expected to grow to $180.1 billion globally within three years. “Fortnite” — the latest blockbuster, in which players battle to be the last one standing in an apocalyptic storm — recently earned a reported $300 million in a month.
The industry has pushed back against the WHO classification, which is expected to be formally adopted next year, calling it “deeply flawed” while pointing to the “educational, therapeutic and recreational value of games.”
But gaming has long had an addictive quality. The game “EverQuest,” introduced nearly 20 years ago, was nicknamed EverCrack for the long binges it inspired.
Now, mental health professionals say they increasingly see players who have lost control.
“I have patients who come in suffering from an addiction to “Candy Crush Saga,” and they’re substantially similar to people who come in with a cocaine disorder,” Levounis said. “Their lives are ruined; their interpersonal relationships suffer; their physical condition suffers.”
Although gaming addiction treatment is starting to draw more attention, there is little insurance coverage or accreditation for specialists to treat it.
Wilderness camps and rehabilitation centers have sprung up but can cost tens of thousands of dollars, with scarce proof of success. Mental health generalists are trying to apply familiar therapies for anxiety or alcoholism to patients with an uncontrollable craving for, say, “World of Warcraft.”
An early study — published in 2009 — found that nearly 9 percent of young players were addicted to their games. Many experts believe the number has increased as games have become more advanced, more social and more mobile, putting them as close as the smartphone in your purse or pocket.
“There’s a massive tsunami coming that we’re not prepared for,” said Cam Adair, the founder of Game Quitters, an online support community.