The NHS Prepares to Open A Hospital for Gaming Addiction

Not too long ago, we ran a story on a Qutee survey that addresses 251 topics, including issues of community, stress, skills, friends, enjoyment, and various other problems related to games as a medium and gaming as a hobby. Among these topics, gaming addiction was a hot ticket item, and the survey’s results regarding this discussion were unsurprising. According to that report, “51 percent of gamers feel gaming shouldn’t be categorized under alcohol/drug/gambling addiction, whereas 23 percent of gamers believe gaming should be treated as an addiction.” Though a mere “26 percent of gamers are unsure whether gaming should be considered an addiction,” the survey has presented a unanimous claim that gaming is not and should not be considered an addiction, let alone an addiction similar to alcohol/drug/gambling addiction. Well, the National Health Service (NHS) has made its stance on the matter clear, as a London-based hospital is gearing to open its first gaming addiction center.

As reported by VideoGamer, “The NHS in the UK is set to fund an addiction [center] for young people and adults at a London hospital specifically based around Internet and gaming addiction.” It was announced over the weekend that a hospital run by the Central and North West London NHS trust “will initially focus on gaming disorders, with a plan to expand its services to cover other [Internet-based] addictions, [and] will be a place of treatment and research, offering advice to families.” The Guardian sat down with the clinic’s founder, psychiatrist Henrietta Bowden-Jones, to talk about the decision to open the center. “Gaming disorder is finally getting the attention it deserves. The distress and harm it can cause is extreme and I feel a moral duty on behalf of the NHS to provide the [evidence-based] treatment these young people and their families need,” Bowden-Jones told The Guardian. “We are unlikely to witness an epidemic of young players with an addiction to gaming but for the ones who do struggle, the Centre for Internet Disorders will be a life-changer.”

This comes just a few months after the World Health Organization (WHO) added gaming as an addiction to an updated draft for the revised International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

[Source via VideoGamer]

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