➤Video game addiction is classified as a mental health disorder by the WHO 🕹

The World Health Organization recently added another disorder to the 11th edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD), responsible for classifying health conditions. This is "gambling disorder", which can be considered a mental health disorder. However, there is no medical consensus regarding the disorder, and several researchers do not believe in its existence.

According to the WHO, to know if you or someone else has gambling disorder, just pay attention to three signs, which are: gambling is always the favorite of all activities; even with negative consequences, such as stopping seeing friends and doing poorly at work or school, the player does not stop playing; compulsive gambling ends up forcing the patient's life and relationship. To be considered a disorder, these symptoms must persist for at least a year, according to the WHO.

Video game addiction is classified as a mental health disorder by the WHO

A member of the organization, Vladimir Poznyak, was responsible for proposing the new diagnosis, and in an interview with CNN, he said: "I am not creating a precedent, the WHO is simply following trends, developments, that have occurred in populations and in the professional field. ."

As well as the ICD, there is the DSM, an acronym for the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders, which is also published in the US, but the ICD covers more than psychiatric disorders and is used internationally.

In this context, the DSM leaves the whole issue somewhat controversial, as it presents an ongoing research on the subject. In it, Internet gaming disorder is found in a section devoted to conditions that need further research to discover its authenticity.

Experts even wrote a letter to the WHO in 2016, recommending the removal of gaming disorder from the CDI. The reason would be that the research already done on this disorder is precarious and that there is still a lot of reluctance, but there is no medical consensus. They further argue: "the act of formalizing this disorder, even as a proposal, has negative medical, scientific, public health, societal and human rights consequences that must be considered."

Also in an interview, psychologist Anthony Bean said that he is a clinician and researcher, and that's why he sees "people who play video games and believe they are in the addict queue, but the new criteria are very broad and do not differentiate between mild and severe forms of the disease. " He adds that it is too early to label this as a diagnosis.