Video game addiction designated mental health disorder by WHO

BY SYDNEY PEREIRA Newsweek A draft of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2018 International Classification of Diseases includes “gaming disorder.” The new disorder, however, doesn’t mean playing video games is terrible for you or qualifies as a mental illness on its own. Some research indicates positive benefits of playing video games.

The gaming disorder is included in a section on “disorders due to addictive behaviors.” To warrant a diagnosis of the new disorder, excessive behavior should be evident for a period of at least a year. But playing lots of video games doesn’t necessarily mean a person has the disorder—the behavior has to significantly impair personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other aspects of your life.

Children’s learning, health and social skills could be positively impacted by playing video games, according to a review of research published by the American Psychological Association. Even video games that have violence may have some benefits. People who play “action” video games, many of which are deemed violent, could improve cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception. One study found that “shooter” video games improved spatial skills just as well as academic courses specifically designed to enhance those same skills.

Those findings should not replace other studies delivering a more wary message about video games. “Important research has already been conducted for decades on the negative effects of gaming, including addiction, depression and aggression, and we are certainly not suggesting that this should be ignored,” said lead author Isabela Granic, developmental psychopathology professor at the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, in a 2013 statement when the review was released. “However, to understand the impact of video games on children’s and adolescents’ development, a more balanced perspective is needed.”

Another study published in 2013 in the Journal of Adolescent Research found that playing video games can enhance motivation, cognitive effort, and increased efforts over long periods of time, as many games require players to reach multiple levels for an ultimate long-term goal. These benefits are similar to what children gain from sports, arts, clubs and hobbies, reported Forbes. University of California, Irvine, researchers found in 2015 that playing 3-D video games can boost memory formation—adding to the literature that shows those types of games can improve hand-eye coordination and reaction time.

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