TECHNOLOGY
campusreview.com.au
Game junkies
Is gaming disorder real? The World
Health Organization thinks so.
By Wade Zaglas
W
hile long suspected to be
addictive, gaming that interferes
with one’s daily life has now
been designated as a mental illness by the
World Health Organization (WHO).
Importantly, a gaming disorder diagnosis
isn’t based on how much time someone
spends on gaming: like other addictions,
it is the effect the disorder has on
someone’s daily activities, interests and
relationships, among other factors, that is
the determining factor.
Individuals need to show these
symptoms for 12 months to receive an
official diagnosis.
Predictably, the booming gaming
industry – which made nearly $44 billion
in sales last year – has challenged the
legitimacy of the diagnosis, arguing that
gaming addiction doesn’t exist and that the
new designation “recklessly trivialises real
mental health issues”.
However, mental health professionals
have welcomed WHO’s move, with the
American Psychiatric Association estimating
that upwards of 75 million suffer from the
condition globally.
Dr John Jiao, an emergency doctor in
the US, explained on Twitter that gaming
disorder was not about how much time
someone spent playing. Instead, “it’s when
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gaming takes precedence over health,
hygiene, relationships, finances, etc”.
He did, however, have a problem with the
term ‘gaming disorder’:
One final clarification: yes it is
officially known as “gaming disorder”,
and yes I am calling out the @WHO:
this is a stupid, non-specific name that
will be misinterpreted by uneducated
people to wield as a weapon against
gaming. Imagine calling depression
just “mood disorder”.
Even adding a single word, like
“gaming abuse disorder”, will implicitly
state that there is a MISUSE of gaming
here, and that there is in fact a normal
state of being where one can play
video games in harmony with the rest
of one’s life. The current name sucks.
John Jiao, MD @JohnJiao
(27 May 2019)
At the same time, experts in gaming and
psychiatry have urged caution in using the
diagnosis, highlighting the important social
and educational dimensions involved in
game play.
Several University of Sydney academics
have weighed in on the diagnosis. Professor
Alex Blaszczynski, director of the University
of Sydney’s Gambling Treatment Clinic,
worries about how the diagnosis will
pathologise ‘normal’ behaviour.
“Although gaming disorder can lead to
harms through excessive play interfering
with study, work and relationships, the
concept of it representing a behavioural
addiction remains to be established,”
he said.
“An important question is the causal
connection between a range of social-
environmental factors and personality traits
and the emergence of excessive gaming.
“Are we pathologising normal behaviours,
given some forms of video gaming are
popular and promote social peer group
interactions, by labelling them an addictive
disease process?”
While unconvinced of the legitimacy of
the diagnosis, Blaszyznski said treatment
options are appearing around the world.
“Treatment of gaming disorders remain
in their infancy. Programs have been
developed in China and Korea, some of
which entail residential courses designed
to ‘detox’ the addiction and deal with
withdrawal symptoms.
“Cognitive therapies based on gambling
addictions need to be evaluated for their
effectiveness, and the role of parents needs
further assessment. The role of regulators
in providing sufficient information to players
of how games operate is important in
respect to in-app purchases.”
Dr Marcus Carter, a lecturer in digital
cultures at Sydney University, also takes
issue with gaming addiction being
pathologised as a disease.
“A key issue with the overzealous and
unfounded designation of gaming addiction
as a disease by WHO is its impact on
children, for whom gaming is nothing but
a rich, rewarding and positive experience,”
Carter said.
Associate Professor Vladan Starcevic,
the renowned head of the Department of
Psychiatry, similarly repudiated the basis for
the classification.
In a co-authored paper entitled ‘Internet
Gaming Disorder does not Qualify as a
Mental Disorder’, the expert in obsessive-
compulsive disorders and gaming addiction
deals with the topic.
“In our view, problematic online gaming
and its ‘offshoots’ such as [internet gaming
disorder] and gaming disorder should not
be conceptualised as a mental disorder,” the
paper states.
However, a 2017 survey published in
Australasian Psychiatry found 35 per cent
of Australian and New Zealand psychiatrists
believed internet gaming disorder was
becoming more common in their patients.
Despite WHO’s classification, it appears
the jury is still out on this diagnosis. ■