Video game addiction will be ??? ?? ????classified as an official mental health condition next year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will recognize "gaming disorder" as a mental health condition in its next revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), coming in 2018. A beta draft of the WHO's 11th ICD includes a gaming disorder entry, which is described as an addiction to video games both online and offline.
SEE ALSO: 10 video games we can't wait to get our hands on in 2018Gaming disorder as described by the WHO is "characterized by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior," including not feeling like you have control over how much you play, putting gaming over other life priorities, and continuing to play games despite negative consequences.
"The behavior pattern is of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning," the entry reads.
What it boils down to is basically video game addiction — playing games for unhealthy amounts of time and not feeling like you can stop. And when ICD-11 is published in 2018, it can be a more easily diagnosable condition.
These symptoms generally need to persist for about a year for someone to be diagnosed with gaming disorder, but in extreme cases it can be diagnosed in a shorter amount of time, according to the WHO.
In the past, video game addiction has led to some pretty extreme outcomes, including one death in 2005 when a man played StarCraftfor more than two days straight with barely any breaks. More recently in 2010, a couple that was occupied playing a game neglected to feed their 3-month-old baby, who died of malnutrition.
The WHO entry does not include any information about prevention or treatment of gaming disorder, unfortunately.
This isn't the first time video game addiction has come up in an official capacity. In 2013, The American Psychiatric Association (APA) considered "internet gaming disorder" as an entry in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and listed it in its Conditions for Further Study section.
The APA describes internet gaming disorder as similar to gambling addiction, in which affected individuals don't have control over their impulses to continue participating in said activity. This specifically has to do with online gaming though, whereas the WHO's gaming disorder includes offline gaming.
If you think you may be struggling with gaming disorder, another mental health disorder, or addiction, call the free Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
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