WHO classifies 'gaming disorder' as mental health condition

Most people know someone who loves games, and is even obsessed with games - and now the World Health Organization recognizes having a "gaming disorder" as a mental health condition.

WHO said that by classifying "gaming disorder" on its own, it will help gamers, families, governments, and health care workers to be more aware of gaming disorders. But having a gaming disorder, by the classification of WHO, is very rare - with less than 3% of gamers affected by their definition of a gaming disorder.

British Psychological Society spokeswoman Dr. Joan Harvey explained that the designation of a "gaming disorder" might panic parents in the wrong way. She explains: "People need to understand this doesn't mean every child who spends hours in their room playing games is an addict, otherwise medics are going to be flooded with requests for help".

Those that look at WHO's new gaming disorder classification positively say that they want to find people that are addicted to games early on, and because a majority of them are teenagers and young adults who won't necessarily seek help for their addiction, think they can help addicted gamers.

Dr. Henrietta Bowden-Jones, a spokeswoman for behavioral addictions at Britain's Royal College of Psychiatrists said: "We come across parents who are distraught, not only because they're seeing their child drop out of school, but because they're seeing an entire family structure fall apart".

There are plenty of different voices of opinion on whether a gaming disorder is something to treat as a mental issue, with stories from TIME, CBS, and more you can check out for more detail.