Europe’s first clinic focused on treating video game addiction claims it is a growing problem that could affect as many as 20% of gamers. Compulsive gamers have similar symptoms to gambling addicts, clinic representatives say, and they risk damage to relationships, health, education and their careers.

Video games may look innocent, but they can be as addictive as gambling or drugs - and just as hard to kick, says Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants in an interview with Sci-Tech Today. Like other addicts, Bakker said, gamers are often trying to escape personal problems. When they play, their brains produce endorphins, giving them a high similar to that experienced by gamblers or drug addicts.

Bakker has treated 20 video game addicts, aged 13 to 30, since his clinic opened in January. In the really bad cases of addiction, gamers use stimulants to keep awake during gaming marathons. Last year a man in South Korea died after spending 50 hours playing an online game.

The clinic will, starting this month, offer a new kind of detox-program lasting up to eight weeks. Many of Bakker’s clients have serious problems and are, according to him, in need of serious treatment, involving a period of detox when they are not allowed access to any computer games. This is then followed by group therapy and sessions with psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists.

BBC News recently interviewed one of the clinic’s clients:

"I lived in my room. I have 4 televisions around me, with one X-Box 360, PlayStation 2, X-Box 1 and a Game Cube and a lap-top, where I can play online games," said Tim, a 21-year-old who played games for up to 17 hours a day.

"I have no social life, I have no friends - only cyber-friends."

About a dozen of these clinics already exist in the United States and Canada, and even one in China, as excessive gaming increasingly is being recognized worldwide as an ailment requiring treatment, according to Sci-Tech Today.

Related Links:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5191678.stm

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