"Gaming Disorder" Is A Disease, World Health Organization Decides; Industry Responds

What a bunch of bull. Addiction is addiction, there's nothing unique about gaming that requires it to be singled out, it's just one way addiction manifests. Some people drink, do drugs, work out, eat, game, read, do social media, watch TV, kill/hunt animals, shop, hoard, do physically dangerous activities, etc, etc, etc but they're nothing special by themselves, they're all addiction.

What bull are they going to come out with next? Movies and games cause violence? ?

People should look at this in context. The WHO also has gambling disorder, shopping disorder and many other disorders related to things which most people do in moderation. This listing is for therapists to help them identify if a patient has an issue with something. It also allows therapists to classify possible treatments amongst themselves or to insurance companies. If you are playing games because you like them, this isn't you; if you are playing games to escape your collapsing life or another mental illness which the gaming is worsening, then this is something to talk about with a professional.

So just like the South Park episode. Addictive Gaming, addictive alcohol, addictive gambling, etc... There will always be people who cannot control their desires. It may be an old saying, but it is still true "All things in moderation". Enjoy life (even virtual life), but don't let what you enjoy control you.

The WHO is just another control mechanism for the new globalist government. Don’t worry, your hobby will eventually be affected as well.

Hi, I have lack of self control disorder. I also have idontgiveadamnaboutbeinganadultitis. It's very contagious.

That's globalism for you. UN human rights council has been lead by Iran, Syria & Libya in recent past. Anything UN touches should be ignored. Imagine if non thinking people are able to pass single payer health care in the US, & force these financially influenced diagnosis on everyone... Great days ahead. Just have everyone read from a script that says, "manufactured crisis" anytime it comes up. It worked for politicians. Oh, wait...

There is a rampant disorder of fabricating disorders (DDD, Disorder Dissemination Disturbia) by the WHO for the purposes of monetary gain by those involved. Eating, sex, & watching too much tv are disorders. Why can't they make working & studying too much disorders too.

Reading the comments a lot of people seem unaware that some people get absolutely addicted to video games to the point where they never want to do anything else. It can have devastating effects on someone's life. Just because you can control yourself doesn't mean everybody can.

Yeah this is dumb. It can be obsessive compulsive but I wouldn't go so far to call it addictive. I've never heard of anyone going through withdrawal from video games. I go to the gym pretty often, and I kinda get in a bad mood whenever I can't make go for some reason or another. Does that mean I'm addicted to exercise?

In other words they mean lack of self control:P

Every addiction is a chemical addiction. Even addictions that aren't directly related to imbibing a chemical - in the end we're addicted to chemicals produced by the brain. We want to feel those chemicals again and we seek to replicate the circumstances where we felt them.

Whether it's substance abuse, a runner's high, or the love of family, when we have a positive chemical feeling in our brains we want to replicate it. They're all the same on a very basic level. Video games can be associated with those chemical reactions in our brains that we find pleasing, so we seek to replicate the pleasure. So can sex, illicit drugs, or scoring high on exams. Anything, therefore, can be an addiction, and all addictions are ultimately chemical addictions.

The real issue, then, is what we do with this information. Nearly every response is knee jerk and designed to protect something dear to us or enforce presupposed value systems. A more prudent approach is a detached and impersonal standpoint to care, with only the individual patient's best interest in mind. It only makes sense to simply weigh, on a case by case basis, the positives and negatives any activity may be having on an individual's life. If someone needs help and has a legitimate problem, whatever the source, then mental healthcare professionals should aid them.

There are bigger systemic issues present regarding the lack of mental healthcare available where it's often needed most. Mental healthcare professionals, when in a position to do so, will hopefully be able to review each case with utmost concern for the individual's well being as a whole. Labeling, or recognizing, video game addiction as an addiction is essentially akin to updating the DSM to the fact that video games exist, and they can be a source of pleasure. It's no different from acknowledging the existence of cell phones, prayer, literature, or anything else that could trigger positive brain chemistry reactions.

If labeling a thing as a disease has the proper effect - added sympathy for the sufferer and allowances made for their condition while they receive help - then there's no harm in it. If it results instead in knee jerk reactions by the industry, politicians, parents, and so on, then we've gained nothing from it but another empty and loud controversy to distract us from the systemic issues that largely have not changed and will not change.

Meanwhile you can read 5 books a week for entertainment and spend 20 hours or more doing it, might as well make that a disease as well correct?

This doesn't need a new classification. Yes, it's possible to become obsessed with gaming and participate in it to an unhealthy degree. The same could be said for any other activity you enjoy. It's a form of OCD, for which there is already a classification and treatments. It's really no different than hoarding, counting and gambling. Creating a new classification merely dilutes the field more, too many conditions that are basically the same diverts research and study.

When I was a kid, there was a Sega and Sonic on it. I played time to time and was playing outside equally. Now we have a disquieting industry that brain wash kids and make them keep paying for transactions. Fortnight is a good example. Parents are the biggest reason though.

Outside of the perils of drugs, of course....you can develop an unhealthy addiction to almost anything as long as that reward feeling triggers in your mind. I wouldn't single out gaming, but you reference it to habit forming addiction in certain cases.

Addiction is the behavior, gaming is just one of the many ways it manifests.

I hope people don't start using this as a way to further promote their opinion that gaming is a waste of time for those on the autism spectrum. Personally it's a coping mechanism. But if taken as WHO seem to intend a year of not looking after yourself, skipping work or school and not being sociable may encourage a person to get help if given a diagnosis of this though I'm in agreement that it is more likely a symptom of another mental illness and is not actually an illness by itself.

Yet binge-watching Netflix shows has become an accepted pop culture thingy....

holy shit, there's a lot of denial here. OBVIOUSLY it's not healthy to game all night and all day, but that doesn't mean gaming in itself is a disease and of course there a ways to game more responsibly and still run a normal worklife. c'mon guys, you making us gamers look bad.

The only problem with this is that while anyone who does fit the criteria does have a problem, it's got nothing to do with gaming. Ignore all those multi-decade spanning studies proving there's nothing wrong with gaming all you'd like. Gaming itself isn't an issue but fitting this criteria is a symptom of something else.

Yeah I don't think I'll be taking anything WHO says seriously any time soon.

Game is bad you have a mental issue. Thinking you are the opposite gender, perfectly fine, no issue there...

It’s called addiction. According to their logic, then watching movies, listening to music and following sports are diseases too.

It’s not anything new. This “disorder” is called addiction, and addiction can manifest with anything; coffee, alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, etc/etc, and yes, gaming. It all has to do with the reward feeling in the mind and if you start loving being a “winner” or gaining points or any other form of reward and can’t control your intake of medium, it’s addiction. I definitely wouldn’t give it its own “gaming disorder” title, just call it what it is: addiction

Wait what??? this is pretty silly because at this rate anything can be a disease, I mean I'm a health nut ..like read food labels obsessively avoid takeaway and run 2 hours a day health nut" do I now have a disorder?

That's ridiculous.

This is totally laughable in this clown world we now are forced to live in.

No matter the symptoms I've known people that ruin their lives over shitty pay 2 win games, EA saying games aren't addictive are talking out of their ass when games even punish you for not signing in now a days.

Will they add cooties next?

I won’t lie it’s times I literally cannot put the controller down. It’s definitely not something I think you need treatment/medication for as much as self control though.

Where do I sign up? Been gaming for years.

I'm owed some backpay by the US of A.

The characteristics they name make it seem more of an addiction rather than a disease.

I can understand WHO'S reasoning somewhat, however its fundametally flawed. I'm no medical student, but If human health was really the priority here, the real name for this "disease" would be an all encompassing one with a name like "Acute Dopamine Stimulus Dissorder ADSD" or something. A dissorder that examines the brain's hyperactivity and inability to regulate itself when suffering dopamine dependance in some individuals. They could then effectively classify "triggers" in individuals who suffer from ADSD. Triggers like smoking, drinking, drugs, sex, sugar, foods, gambling, and activities that grant bursts of gratification like social media. Gaming is a trigger, and like all the triggers listed above, it's not something that affects everyone.

Calling gaming the disease and not calling addiction for what it truly is, they are arming politicians and pharmaceutical corporations with a platform to weaponize a harmless consumer hobby. ",Gaming disorder disease" implies that addiction is something that affects all gamers, ignorant would be putting it mildly.

gaming is now considered a disorder, but not gender dysphoria? God help this planet, because this is so messed up.

Such as parental controls!!

Errr, it's not just children that play games WHO

Sorry WHO, but I regret to inform you that you may have Diagnosing Disorder; something I have just decided is a disease. Diagnosing Disorder is characterized by a "pattern of persistent or recurrent diagnosing behaviour". The official description goes on to say that Diagnosing Disorder can include the following: "1) impaired control over diagnosing (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context); 2) increasing priority given to diagnosing to the extent that the invention of new disorders takes precedence over logic and reason; and 3) continuation of inventing new disorders despite the lack of physical evidence. For it to be suggested that an organization has Diagnosing Disorder, they would display these behaviour patterns for a year or longer, thus the WHO should be very concerned that they do in fact have this dangerous and debilitating disorder.