WHO declares video game addiction to be a mental illness

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday recognized video game addiction as a mental disorder.

In its eleventh version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), the WHO officially added video game addiction to the list of “substance use or addictive behaviors,” along with gambling addiction.

"Video game addiction is characterized by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior (of digital games or video games), which may be online (i.e., via the Internet) or offline," the disease listing explains.

Among the traits that characterize people with this disorder, three stand out: the lack of control over gambling, the priority of this activity over the rest of life activities, and the continuation or intensification of gaming despite the negative consequences on a person.

The pattern of compulsive gaming "may be continuous or episodic and recurrent" and may be caused by distress or impairment in important areas, such as personal, family, social or educational, added the WHO.

The international entity also recognized the "dangerous use of video games" as one of the factors that can influence a person’s state of health. 

The addition of video game addiction in this list aims to improve the statistics on this condition worldwide, as current studies show varying figures on its prevalence, according to El Financiero. However, the ICD-11 coded 1.6 million clinical cases of this disorder.

The new list was originally adopted at the World Health Assembly in May 2019. However, WHO member countries planned to start implementing it starting in 2022. Since then, countries that adopted it early recommended further modifications to produce the version published Friday, Europa Press reported.