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The progressive increase in Internet usage has led to the growth of new research in the field of psychology (Wang, Long, Liu, & Liu, 2019), particularly with regards to gaming disorder. Gaming disorder has emerged as a subject area due to changes in behavior, cognition, and emotion, in individuals (Wichstrøm, Stenseng, Belsky, von Soest, & Hygen, 2019), particularly in adolescents and young adults (Mihara & Higuchi, 2017). The American Psychiatric Association (APA) recognizes Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) as a behavioral addiction that leads to clinically significant impairment or distress (Kim et al., 2018; Paulus, Ohmann, Von Gontard, & Popow, 2018; Wang et al., 2017) but considers it a “tentative disorder” that requires further research (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Wichstrøm et al., 2019). Similarly, the World Health Organization (WHO) includes Gaming Disorder in the International Classification of Diseases document (ICD-11) under “disorders due to addictive behaviors” and states that it results in marked distress or significant impairment (World Health Organization, 2021).
Both the ICD-11 and the DSM-5 provide matching definitions of gaming disorder, with some common diagnostic criteria (Griffiths, Kuss, Lopez-Fernandez, & Pontes, 2017; Jo et al., 2019). According to ICD-11, to be officially diagnosed with gaming disorder, the gamer must display three symptoms: “(a) an impaired control over gaming, (b) an increasing priority given to gaming, and (c) a continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences”. According to the DSM-5, the gamer must exhibit at least five of nine symptoms, over a minimum period of 12 months (Lopez-Fernandez, 2015; Sevelko et al., 2018; Zajac, Ginley, Chang, & Petry, 2017). In addition to the ICD-11 symptoms, the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5 include (d) loss of interest in activities other than gaming, (e) tolerance, in terms of the need to spend increasing amount of time gaming, (f) withdrawal symptoms when internet gaming is withheld, (g) deception of others regarding the amount of time spent on gaming, (h) escapism: use of gaming to escape real-life issues or relieve distress, and (i) jeopardy or loss of interpersonal relationships, jobs, or educational commitments (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Hawi, 2019; Petry et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2017).
Additionally, gaming disorder (GD) symptoms tend to appear alongside symptoms of other psychological disorders such as major depressive disorder, social phobia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (Kim et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2018; Wichstrøm et al., 2019, Han, Kim, Bae, Renshaw, & Anderson, 2017; Kim, Lee, et al., 2017; Kim, Lim, et al., 2017; Pearcy, McEvoy, & Roberts, 2017; Sevelko et al., 2018; Zajac et al., 2017).