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The World Health Organization
recently said that it planned to add gaming disorder (游戏成瘾) to its new list of disease classifications, angering the gaming industry
but pleasing doctors who hope it may make treatment more easily available.
Some US experts said it
would make little difference when it comes to helping people with the disorder,
although others said it would bring attention to a disorder that people sometimes
don't recognize. So some experts disagree WHO's plan.
Many of us enjoy video
games, but does playing our favorite game for a couple of hours every night mean
we're suffering from gaming disorder? Not according to the WHO.
The symptoms listed by
the WHO include a lack of control over gaming, treating gaming more seriously than
other life interests and daily activities, and continuing to play games despite
the negative consequences that playing them might have.
"The behavior pattern
is enough to result in significant damage to one's personal, family, or social life."
the WHO said.
Meanwhile, Douglas Gentile
of Iowa State University has carried out influential research into the cause of
gaming addiction in young people." I and many others had assumed that gaming
is not really a problem but is a symptom of other problems," he told NBC News.
Many had thought it was simply a failure of self-control. To see if it was, Gentile's
team studied a group of children who had been gaming for several years." We
found that when kids became addicted, their anxiety increased … and their grades decreased," Gentile said. When kids were able to
back off from gaming, their symptoms disappeared, he added.
Gentile thinks medical
organizations should pay attention to the WHO's proposal." This isn't an issue
of opinion; it's an issue of science," he said." This is a major scientific
and medical organization. They don't do things lightly and without reason."
Dr Petros Levounis, chair
of psychiatry at the New Jersey Medical School at Rutgers University, said that
he hoped the WHO's proposal would lead to more research into obsessive (过度的) behavior among all types of people.
"Now, there is renewed
interest and excitement," he said. So some experts are in favour of WHO's plan.