If you are a gamer who spends lots of hours in front of your television screaming at the top of your lungs at the guy/girl who just ended your kill streak, you may have a disorder. WHO (World Health Organization) will soon classify Gaming Disorder as a mental health issue.
So can you get disability pay for that?
It’s been 27 years since WHO updated their manual The International Classification of Diseases and they are making things very interesting with this upcoming addition. The wording for gaming hasn’t been defined yet so it’s still a mystery as to how WHO will officially break that down in the manual.
WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse member Vladimir Poznyak had this to say about why it’s an important issue recognizing Gaming Disorder:
“Health professionals need to recognize that gaming disorder may have serious health consequences.Most people who play video games don’t have a disorder, just like most people who drink alcohol don’t have a disorder either. However, in certain circumstances overuse can lead to adverse effects.”
A few years ago the APA (American Psychiatric Association ) created a list of nine symptoms that could help diagnose a person with “internet gaming disorder”. The symptoms include antisocial behavior, anxiety, and withdrawal. So if your PlayStation 4 is actually calling out to you, you have a problem bruh.
Well duh of course too much of anything is bad for you. Researchers from the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute conducted their own survey to learn how many gamers are actually addicted to video games. The study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and found that only 2 to 3 percent of 19,000 men and women surveyed in the US, Germany, Canada and the UK admitted to suffering from five or six of the symptoms listed by the APA.
Oxford University’s study lead author Dr. Andrew Przybylski, had this to say about their findings on internet Gaming Disorder:
“To our knowledge, these are the first findings from a large-scale project to produce robust evidence on the potential new problem of ‘internet gaming disorder.Contrary to what was predicted, the study did not find a clear link between potential addiction and negative effects on health; however, more research grounded in open and robust scientific practices is needed to learn if games are truly as addictive as many fear.”
Well, we are willing to bet these doctors never played Final Fantasy VII, Grand Theft Auto V, and Metal Gear Solid cause if they did they would understand. Video game twitter, of course, reacted accordingly to the news of them possibly suffering from a disorder because of their love *coughs* addiction to video games.
https://twitter.com/rifqyD/status/946227571112345600
HA, at least they are taking the news in stride. Hit the gallery below to see more reactions to Gaming Disorder below.
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Photo: Amy Sussman/Invision for Microsoft/AP Images
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