{"id":388140,"date":"2018-01-03T06:27:09","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T06:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=388140"},"modified":"2018-01-03T06:27:09","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T06:27:09","slug":"gaming-addiction-classified-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/01\/gaming-addiction-classified-disorder\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaming addiction classified as disorder by WHO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gaming addiction is to be listed as a mental health condition for the first time by the World Health Organisation.<\/p>\n

Its 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD) will include the condition “gaming disorder”.<\/p>\n

The draft document describes it as a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour so severe that it takes “precedence over other life interests”.<\/p>\n

Some countries had already identified it as a major public health issue.<\/p>\n

Many, including the UK, have private addiction clinics to “treat” the condition.<\/p>\n

The last version of the ICD was completed in 1992, with the new guide due to be published in 2018.<\/p>\n

The guide contains codes for diseases, signs and symptoms and is used by doctors and researchers to track and diagnose disease.<\/p>\n

It will suggest that abnormal gaming behaviour should be in evidence over a period of at least 12 months “for a diagnosis to be assigned” but added that period might be shortened “if symptoms are severe”.<\/p>\n

Symptoms include:<\/p>\n