Gaming addictions have now been classed as a serious mental disorder and the NHS will be providing treatments for those who are diagnosed.
It's been in the media a lot recently, as mums try and campaign against games such as Fortnite, but being addicted to video games is now being officially recognised in order to combat the problem.
For the people who suffer with it, they are reported to not be able to control their moods and behaviour when not gaming, and give it more importance than anything else in their life.
It has been classed in a similar way to any addiction, and the symptoms from The World Health Organisation say that patients will have:
- Impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context)
- Increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities
- Continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences
They also said:
The behaviour pattern is of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning. The pattern of gaming behaviour may be continuous or episodic and recurrent. The gaming behaviour and other features are normally evident over a period of at least 12 months in order for a diagnosis to be assigned, although the required duration may be shortened if all diagnostic requirements are met and symptoms are severe.
The world of gaming has been growing bigger than ever over the last couple of years, so it's likely that even more people will end up with this problem. It might not seem bad on the surface, I mean who wouldn't want to be addicted to video games rather than something more serious, but it can have detrimental effects on both your social and physical life.
We spoke about a Mum of four not long back, whose son had to spend eight weeks in hospital due to a lack of sunlight and interaction with anything other than his gaming console. It can be an awful thing to experience, whether you're the one who has it or if it's someone close to you, but at least there might be a solution to help the situation.
At the moment, the NHS is only offering free treatment to children, and a diagnosis should be pretty simple. If you think you, or anyone you know, might be suffering then make sure you visit your doctor or hospital to find out what the next step to getting better is.
Featured Image Credit: FortniteTopics: GAMING, Entertainment, NHS