Computer gaming disorder: more questions than answers?
Video gaming (computer games) has lately become not only among regular, but also the most popular entertainment around the globe. The impression is that most gamers do not experience any significant problems with their psychiatric or physical status. However the clinical practice is full of examples where there is clear pathological addiction to gaming leading to deep behavior deviations. Those bring about serious social problems in the functioning of the individual. There is a tendency in professional circles to consider the excessive addiction to videogames as a new type of addiction lesions. On the contrary, a large number of researchers believe that classification of videogames among psychiatric pathology is still missing a solid scientific ground. For example, healthcare professionals are yet far from being clear whether such deviations are linked to the games directly, or they represent consequences of some pshychiatric personality disorders. The diagnostic criteria formulated in DSM-5 and ICD-11 are not comprehensive enough. This compromises the adequacy of the clinician’s evaluation of the real situation and may lead to a false-positive diagnosis and treatment. No generally accepted measures to treat the gaming disorder exist. Most of the methods used by clinicians rely on their experience accumulated via treating phsychiatric linked to the abuse of pshychoactive substances. The correctness of such a concept is now under hot discussion by the international professional community. The diagnosis called “Gaming disorder” should be used by clinicians with extreme accuracy, based on the personalized approach. Such an approach will allow the consulting doctor to thoroughly consider the psychiatric, social and personality aspects of the patient’s life. And task number one in a situation like this is to rule our all sorts of other psychiatric pathologies. On the other hand, the psychiatrist must find undoubtedly evidence of the harmful addiction coming from computer games.