Tuesday 19 June 2018

Gaming is classified as an addiction - should it be? find out more with our links.

According to the latest classification of mental health diseases IC 11 from the World Health Organisation. It is listed as an addiction.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) 2016 update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) also listed gaming as a disorderin a recent update

Why has this happened?
Video and intenet games have often sparked controversy
They are now widely played
IFSE has data on the percentage of the population who play games in European nations. in 2017 they found 43% of the population of the UK 6-64 played an average of 9.5 hours per week. 'ERA data shows that the value of the UK games market for home sales almost equals that of music and video combined, comprising 46.3% of the overall value of the sector in 2017'

Certainly many psychologises recognise and treat it . See TechAddiction Canada for exmaples of an organisation whioch supports and collects evidence for 'addicts'
However a number of scholars disagreed with the 2016 WHO proposal to classify it as an addiction. Read the full text.
Scholars’ open debate paper on the World Health Organization ICD-11 Gaming Disorder proposal
there has also been a recent 2018 paper which has pointed to lack of scientific evidence.
van Rooij, A. J., Ferguson, C. J., Colder Carras, M., Kardefelt-Winther, D., Shi, J., & Przybylski, A. K. (2018, February 8). A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: Let us err on the side of caution. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KC7R9
in 2016 University of Oxford scholars found evidence of some adiction but found it less than gambling. 

Looking for more evidence

NHS evidence enables you to quickly search for NHS advice on the issue which considers the benefits and risks of online gaming.
Pubmed also has studies considering this.
for instance this PLOS article from 2012

 




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