Gaming addiction gets mental disorder tag

Why is it in news?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognized ‘gaming disorder’ as a mental health issue.

Details

• The disorder will be listed in the 11^th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).The current working definition of the disorder is “a pattern of gaming behavior, characterized by impaired control over gaming, increased priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests”.
• The provisional guidelines say that an individual should demonstrate an abnormal fixation on gaming for at least a year before being diagnosed with the disorder, which will be classified as addictive behavior. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the condition disp
• roportionately affects younger people more connected to the ever-expanding online gaming world.
• But the WHO also cautioned that it was premature to speculate on the scope of the problem.

Source

The Hindu