Health agency says video game addiction is a disease
The World Health Organization has made it official: digital games can be addictive, and those addicted to them need help.
In the latest edition of its International Classification of Diseases, released Monday, the United Nations agency concluded that people whose jobs, educations, family or social lives have been upended by video games probably meet the criteria for a new form of addiction called “gaming disorder.”
If a person has escalated or persisted in his or her gaming behavior despite clearly negative consequences, that further seals the deal, the new guidelines say.
The behavior should be “of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment” and may be “continuous or episodic and recurrent,” the WHO’s diagnostic manual notes. While “normally evident over a period of at least 12 months,” a diagnosis may be in order sooner in cases where impairment is evident, efforts to cut back have failed and symptoms are sufficiently severe.
Sound like someone you know? Read on.
Q:
Why is the World Health Organization’s decision important?
A:
The WHO’s International Classification of Diseases gives medical professionals around the world a single standard for identifying a problematic medical or behavioral issue and accepting it as a disorder worthy of attention and treatment. Despite differing languages and social, cultural and medical traditions, the WHO’s 191 member nations recognize these common definitions of diseases.
In addition, the classification codes are the foundation for health insurance billing in the Q: United States.
Is gaming disorder diagnosed the same everywhere?
A: The WHO’s definition is pretty inclusive, sweeping in anyone who could argue their gaming habit has interfered with important daily functioning. The American Psychiatric Assn. has proposed — but not yet fully embraced — a set of diagnostic criteria that are somewhat more detailed.
The association publishes a handbook of psychiatric diseases called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, also known as the DSM. In 2013, the organization added internet gambling disorder to the DSM, but opted not to include internet gaming disorder — at least, not yet.
A draft diagnostic description for internet gaming disorder would require a determination that persistent gaming had caused a person to have “significant issues with functioning.” It also calls for five of the following symptoms to be present:
• A preoccupation or obsession with internet games.
• Withdrawal symptoms when not playing games.
• A tolerance for gaming, so that a person needs to spend more time playing to be satisfied.
• At least one failed attempt to stop or cut back on playing games.
• A loss of interest in other life activities.
• Overuse of digital games despite realizing the impairment they have caused.
• Lying to others about game usage.
• Using gaming to escape or relieve anxiety or guilt.
• Relationships have been lost or risked because of gaming.
Q: Who is at risk for having a gaming disorder, and how widespread is it?
A: In 2013, it appeared that internet gaming disorder was most common in male adolescents between the ages of 12 and 20, and that the affliction was more prevalent in Asian countries than in North America and Europe. Experts estimated that close to 10 percent of kids in China and 1 percent to 2 percent of kids and teens in the United States were affected. That may explain why WHO recognized it first, while the APA demurred.