Video Game Addiction Officially A Disorder

By 965koit on June 19, 2018

Growing up I would spend nights and weekends glued to my television screen trying to beat the latest video game I was playing. There were times that hours would disappear and the sun would start coming up and I would be shocked. As much I was consumed by video games I would never call what I had an addiction. But back then it wasn’t nearly as widespread or as big a part of the culture as it is today. That’s mostly what kids do now! So it was only a matter of time before some of them were truly addicted to gaming.

The World Health Organization has officially recognized video game addition as a disease in their 11th edition of their “International Calssification of Diseases.” The official title is “Gaming Disorder” and this is the first time that it has been recognized as a mental condition.

There are some skeptics out there though, including psychologists who believe it’s only a condition of a true disorder. The argument is that video games are usually what people turn to when they are suffering from depression or anxiety. So technically the true disorder wouldn’t be an actual addiction to playing video games but more of a side effect. They are convinced that once you fix the depression or anxiety problem then the video game addiction goes away.

Either way, the fact that the World Health Organization has recognized it will help people who suffer from it get the help they need.