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WHO Classifies 'Gaming Disorder' as Mental Health Condition (cnn.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

The World Health Organization has announced "gaming disorder" as a new mental health condition included in the 11th edition of its International Classification of Diseases, released Monday. From a report: "I'm not creating a precedent," said Dr. Vladimir Poznyak, a member of WHO's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, which proposed the new diagnosis to WHO's decision-making body, the World Health Assembly. Instead, he said, WHO has followed "the trends, the developments, which have taken place in populations and in the professional field." However, not all psychologists agree that gaming disorder is worthy of inclusion in the International Classification of Diseases, known as the ICD.

A diagnosis standard, the ICD defines the universe of diseases, disorders, injuries and other related health conditions. Researchers use it to count deaths, diseases, injuries and symptoms, and doctors and other medical practitioners use it to diagnose disease and other conditions. In many cases, health care companies and insurers use the ICD as a basis for reimbursement. Poznyak said the expectation is that the classification of gaming disorder means health professionals and systems will be more "alerted to the existence of this condition" while boosting the possibility that "people who suffer from these conditions can get appropriate help."

13 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Not a disorder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gamer dysphoria is not a disorder.
    I identify as a gamer and demand to be treated as one, not as a mentally ill person.
    No to gamerphobia!

    1. Re:Not a disorder by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      Playing video games 24/7 is a mental disorder.

      Dressing up in women's clothes and thinking you are a woman, to the point of cutting off your dick is, "Normal"

      I see.

      Don't forget that pushing it onto 3 year old kids is okay. But pointing out that it's child abuse isn't okay. Putting preteens on hormone blocks is okay too. Never mind that children have wild ideas like wanting to be a train/truck/street light/etc when they grow up.

      There's going to be an entire generation of completely fucked up people, and in the worst case a lot of cases of parents getting killed by their kids for fucking up their lives.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    2. Re:Not a disorder by mrclevesque · · Score: 2

      "Gamer dysphoria is not a disorder."

      Of course. A Gaming Disorder diagnosis would mean a person's symptoms (eg gaming obsession and compulsion) cause them significant distress, affect their ability to function in daily life and the level of intensity, and duration, of the dysfunction exceeds the minimum diagnosis criteria.

  2. Great! One more by mark_reh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    preexisting condition that health insurance companies can use to deny coverage ...

    We are stupid and deserve everything that is happening to us.

  3. Health condition? by Kohath · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If the cure for your disease is "just stop doing it", then is it really a health condition? Humans have agency. We decide what we do.

    Perhaps we should change society so that we have two classes of individuals: people who are victims of their own choices (because they can’t control them), and people who control their choices and are therefore treated as full citizens.

    Some of us are tired of being dragged down.

    1. Re:Health condition? by gnick · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If the cure for your disease is "just stop doing it", then is it really a health condition?

      I drank so much over about 5 years that my liver failed and damn near killed me. That takes dedicated drinking to the level of mental illness. When I was in the hospital being rescued from liver failure, I would have kept drinking if I could have figured out how to get alcohol into the hospital. The drinking resumed when I was discharged. Is mental illness manifesting as suicidally self-destructive behavior a health condition? I think so.

      It's been almost 3 years since I "just stopped", but until you've been there you can't appreciate how difficult "just stopping" can be. For one, alcohol withdrawals are a bitch and weaning off requires control that most alcoholics don't have.

      Victim of my own choices? Sure. Just like every other suicide.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:Health condition? by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2

      3. People who had their bootstraps superglued to the ceiling from birth.

    3. Re:Health condition? by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 2

      If the cure for your disease is "just stop doing it", then is it really a health condition? Humans have agency. We decide what we do.

      If humans were good at that then politics, laws, and government would be unnecessary and would not exist. We humans are surprisingly generally bad as individuals at making important decisions in a lot of situations. And decisions made by one very often end up affecting others. One who chooses to imbibe alcohol in excess is far more likely to make rash decisions towards others while inebriated.

      Perhaps we should change society so that we have two classes of individuals: people who are victims of their own choices (because they can’t control them), and people who control their choices and are therefore treated as full citizens.

      The problem is you usually don't figure out which category you might fall into until it's far too late to change it. Most people seem to want to lend a hand to help the people who want out but can't figure out how. You seem to want to treat them as subhuman. I find that abhorrent and similar in motivation to the worst parts of humanity from recorded history.

      With all that being said, do I think gaming addiction is a major world problem? No. I'll agree that it *can* be a disorder, but there are certainly more serious mental health issues worth devoting resources to over this one.

  4. ADHD by lucasnate1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Isn't this just a private case of attention span deficit disorder? To me it looks like one is incapable to control what one gives attention to, and I see no difference between a "gaming addict" and a "facebook addict".

    --
    Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
  5. Re:Yet... by guruevi · · Score: 2, Informative

    Uhm... https://www.psychiatry.org/pat...

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  6. Re:Mental health issues... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2

    Don't confuse this shit with science.

    Gender is real, but it is provably not binary. Whether you want to classify those non-binary case as a mutation/disorder or nature running its course is more of a social statement, not a scientific statement.

  7. Re:It's never too early to quit. by war4peace · · Score: 2

    You met 3 out of 9 criteria for video game addiction. A score under five shows less problematic use, but if you are still concerned it is worth investigating.

    I need to game more.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  8. Re:Mental health issues... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    The last maybe duplicates a bit on the former. Probably others. Gender is definitely not binary, and I cannot imagine what such people go through in life but without things of this nature, there wouldn't be a human race to have the debate.