{"id":4387,"date":"2018-01-03T10:42:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T07:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/?p=4387"},"modified":"2018-01-03T11:43:16","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T08:43:16","slug":"world-health-organisationwho-video-games-may-cause-mental-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/world-health-organisationwho-video-games-may-cause-mental-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"World Health Organisation(WHO) : \u2018Video games may cause mental illness\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Excessive playing of video games\u2014online or offline\u2014may be considered a mental health disorder by the World Health Organisation (WHO).<\/p>\n<p>This comes after the proposed draft of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) included \u201cGaming Disorder,\u201d on the list of mental health conditions that will be published in a report in May this year.<\/p>\n<p>Playing video games has for long been heavily criticised by psychiatrists and certain child rights groups elsewhere in the world. Here in Tanzania, the practice came under scrutiny some months ago when parents appealed for government intervention in curbing it.<br \/>\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- linkAD.2 --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4564014896468666\" data-ad-slot=\"3390598296\" data-ad-format=\"link\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Over nine months ago, The Citizen reported a story, \u201cWhen video games addiction interferes with school,\u201d which detailed an incident where police officers stormed a gaming centre in Dar es Salaam and found children aged below 15 playing a variety of games, including video gaming.<\/p>\n<p>This happened after parents in the city raised concerns to Kinondoni district commissioner Ali Hapi that their children were getting obsessed with playing games, and that it was affecting their school performance.<\/p>\n<p>News that WHO now wants to classify \u201cvideo gaming\u201d as a mental health disorder may have come as relief for the parents\/guardians who are irked by the practice in Tanzania.<\/p>\n<p>When the WHO publishes the ICD-11 in May and classifies gaming as a mental illness, it means that doctors and other health specialists will be able to make an official diagnosis in people who have the obsession for gaming.<\/p>\n<p>In the draft of the report, WHO says, \u201cGaming Disorder is characterised by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour (\u2018digital gaming\u2019 or \u2018video-gaming\u2019), which may be online (i.e., over the internet) or offline, manifested by: 1) impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, and context).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the WHO, said the new ICD-11 entry on gaming disorder \u201cincludes only a clinical description and not prevention and treatment options.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tanzanians may have to wait longer before the new development is incorporated in the local guidelines for the treatment of mental illnesses.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4564014896468666\" data-ad-slot=\"3464335665\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>However, this will be the first time that the list has included an entry on gaming, placing it in the same category as disorders related to drugs, alcohol and gambling.<\/p>\n<p>Around the country, there is a growing youthful population with the rapidly advancing digital culture that includes mobile phone gaming.<\/p>\n<p>The existing version of the ICD was endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 1990 and currently is used by more than 100 countries around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Excessive playing of video games\u2014online or offline\u2014may be considered a mental health disorder by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This comes after the proposed draft of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) included \u201cGaming Disorder,\u201d on the list of mental health conditions that will be published in a report in May this year. Playing video [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,107],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-edunews","7":"category-internationaljobs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unistoretz.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}