Classifying Gaming Addiction

Reader Erica from Northampton wrote in to notify us about AP writer Lindsey Tanner’s article Is Video-Game Addiction a Mental Disorder? This weekend at the American Medical Association’s annual policy meeting, the AMA Council on Science and Public Health will lobby for gaming disorders to be included in the American Psychiatric Association’s mental illness manual (the DSM, I assume). Classifying addictive gaming behavior as a psychiatric disorder would serve to raise awareness and allow insurance coverage for treatment. Debate is sure to ensue given potential consequences for the video game industry, and current disagreement about this added classification from some mental health providers.