The World Health Organization has thrown a news that has now managed to grab everyone’s attention from last few days. The internationally acclaimed health organization just published the latest draft of its updated International Classification of Diseases manual and guess what? ‘Gaming disorder’ is listed below in the international manual.
While residing in a technology era we shouldn’t be expecting such kind of information as breaking news as believe it or not we somewhere saw it coming.
This news has been traveling like fire and guesses who’s the main medium? The irritated parents! Who must have shown this international news to their kids in front of the computers and to other relatives who have later show their kids!
I believe as soon as the news broke out I could hear “See I told you!” from lots of houses.
The World Health Organisation had briefly described this disorder in their manual:
While the health and fitness organizations have alerted since the news broke out, the World Health Organization has defined the new disorder briefly in its International Classification of Diseases manual.
First, they described three key telltale signs that are regarded as the signs that will help in diagnoses of this newly minted disorder.
These signs go like:
- Impaired control over gaming (e.g. onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context)
- Increasing priority is given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities
- Continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences
After reading these symptoms I guess most of the readers couldn’t gulp down the accuracy.
This isn’t it all, The World Health Organisation has further said that :
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 pattern of gaming behavior may be continuous or episodic and recurrent. The gaming behavior and other features are normally evident over a period of at least 12 months in order for a diagnosis to be assigned, although the required duration may be shortened if all diagnostic requirements are met and symptoms are severe.
The disorder share similar outcomes to other addictive activities:
Before addressing the health organization’s information regarding this disorder, I have a personal take on this subject as well.
Being a sister to a gamer-brother, I have been noticing the above-mentioned symptoms from quite a long time now. The addiction to gaming not only makes you lazy but it makes you somewhat hyper, aggressive and pushes you more towards extremist behavior.
Now that these awful outcomes are accepted internationally, I believe it’s time for you to notice people around you and maybe help them a little bit.
Like it’s mention in the heading, The World Health Organization believes that the gaming disorder shares mutual effects with other addictive activities, for example, gambling.
This is what the organization further said regarding this health disorder:
“Disorders due to addictive behaviors are recognizable and clinically significant syndromes associated with distress or interference with personal functions that develop as a result of repetitive rewarding behaviors other than the use of dependence-producing substances,” writes the World Health Organization. The organization further claims that “Disorders due to addictive behaviors include gambling disorder and gaming disorder, which may involve both online and offline behavior.”
Though the above mention symptoms are universal symptoms, the organization is quick to note that the prevalence of gaming disorder, as defined by the WHO, is actually “very low.”
The WHO member Dr. Vladimir Poznyak tells CNN, “Millions of gamers around the world, even when it comes to the intense gaming, would never qualify as people suffering from gaming disorder.”
So before closing this health cum technology blog, I want the viewers to share this latest health information with their loved ones. No matter how absurd and unacceptable this news may seem to them it’s better to inform them before they jump into a deeper phase of addiction, which is now claimed as a health disorder.
