19.06.18
Gaming addicts to be offered NHS treatment
Children with gaming disorder will now be able to get treatment on the NHS.
The news comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised the condition as a mental health disorder.
Adding the disorder to WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) means that those diagnosed will be entitled to NHS treatment.
According to WHO, classifying gaming disorder as a separate condition will “serve the need and the demand for treatment in many parts of the world,” and the decision was based on scientific evidence.
Dr. Henrietta Bowden-Jones from the Royal College of Psychiatrists called the move an “enormous relief to the parents of sufferers.”
“Up until now, the lack of recognition of the disorder has meant treatment has not been properly in place. The NHS now has an opportunity to change this,” she said.
She explained that although the rates of gaming disorder are relatively low in the UK, symptoms can be severe, with sufferers living in a virtual world that becomes their reality.
“Their lack of input into school, exams and activities ends up alienating them to the extent that they can’t tell the difference between immediate gratification (from computer games) and long-term reward,” she said.
Dr. Mark Griffiths, a professor of behavioural addiction at Nottingham Trent University, said: “Video gaming is like a non-financial kind of gambling from a psychological point of view.”
He argued that gamers use points in the way that gamblers use money to keep score, although he agreed that the problem affects relatively small numbers, with less than 1% of gamers likely to suffer from the condition, with many of those affected having an underlying problems such as depression, bipolar disorder or autism.
Gaming disorder is defined by WHO as a pattern of gaming behaviour characterised by “impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.”
Top image: funstock
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