UK’s First NHS Funded Gaming Treatment Center To Open
A little over a week ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially recognised gaming addiction as a medical condition. The addition to their categorisation was originally proposed back in December 2017 and as of last week, it is now an officially recognised illness.
Whether you agree with this or not is irrelevant, it’s now a fact. Get used to it! Based on this though, in a report via Skynews, the NHS is set to open its first gaming addiction treatment centre in the next few weeks.
Is Gaming Addiction Real?
This is a hard question to answer. The extent of my medical training is being a qualified first-aider. Beyond that, I am no expert. That being said though, while I question how badly one can get addicted to games, I can, at least in part, agree that some games do encourage addictive behaviours.
There was a time when I played World of Warcraft (many years ago). While initially enjoying it, the game got to the point that I would pretty much log-in every single day. This, solely for the purpose of grinding my dailies. In fact, part of the reason I quit WoW was because I was caring more about them than actually having fun playing the game. With games that regularly reward you for ‘logging in’ though, I can understand how they could get addictive.
An Interesting Thought
Given that gaming addiction is now an officially recognised illness, I am a little curious as to how successful you would be claiming disability over this matter. As this is not a substance abuse, it would be very difficult to prove you were addicted. Even so, if this is officially an illness, someone somewhere has got to be handing in their notice and filling out their form right now.
A bit cynical? maybe. I can not deny though that a part of me would be tempted to try.
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
Whilst I enjoy a good gaming session, just as you do, I am capable of stopping and saying that’s enough for today. What I have trouble with is the NHS being able to properly diagnose this condition. I don’t believe I have ever come across someone that starts getting the shakes because they haven’t logged into their favorite game for a while.
Also what would the treatment be, locked up in a special center and slowly reducing their gaming allowance.
But this could be like depression. If a person has never suffered with depression then they have extreme trouble understanding what its like.
I have never suffered from Gaming addiction, so I have no idea what it would be like.