The first clinic specializing in addiction to gaming – and in particular video and online computer games – has been announced this week, in Amsterdam.
According to Keith Bakker, director of Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants in Amsterdam, their offices have already treated twenty gaming addicts this year, even before the specialized clinic opened. And although the youngest was 13 years old, Bakker says that he has seen them as young as 8 years old.
Bakker explained that gaming addiction is physiologically very similar to other types of addiction. When the addicted play games, they produce endorphins, which gives them a high similar to those felt with other addictions. Their responses to questions are the same as those with other types of addictions, and the experiences of their parents and loved ones are similar as well.
So there, those of you who scoffed at us when we brought up gaming addiction more than a year ago, and when the gamer was killed over a virtual game piece, or when another gamer collapsed and died after 49 straight hours of gaming
And just like other addictions, a gaming addiction can affect people of all ages, from all walks of life.
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“We have kids who don’t know how to communicate with people face-to-face because they’ve spent the last three years talking to somebody in Korea through a computer,” explained Bakker, adding that “Many of these kids believe that when they sit down, they’re going to play two games and then do their homework.”
But before they know it, they’re hooked.
Or, as one account put it, “It can start with a Game Boy… From there, it can progress to multilevel games that aren’t made to be won.”
Next up, a short documentary entitled “Gaming Madness”.
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