Excessive gaming could become a mental disorder

The World Health Organization is considering adding “gaming disorder” to its list of mental health conditions, meaning that a doctor would be able to diagnose a patient with the disorder if it gets in the way of other activities.

Under a draft of the International Classification of Diseases, which isn’t final yet, WHO would, beginning in 2018, define gaming disorder as “a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior, which may be online or offline.” To fit the description, someone must show dependency on video or digital gaming for at least a year, but a doctor can take less time to evaluate a patient if signs are particularly severe.