UK's NHS clinic for 'gaming disorders' claims unexpectedly high patient numbers in early years, with some 'referring themselves'
The National Centre for Gaming Disorders, which is the first of its kind in the UK, has had an unexpected volume of referrals in the 3 years it's been operating, as written by Prof Henrietta Bowden-Jones. "[We have] had about 800 referrals to a clinic that was expected to see no more than 50 patients a year."
To be clear, referrals don't necessarily result in treatment. As a separate Guardian report details, «Of the 855 referrals [to the clinic], 408 were gamers, of whom 227 were under 18.» That's still a big number, of course.
«When gaming was not a disorder treated by the NHS, I would frequently, as director of the National Problem Gambling Clinic, be contacted by relatives of young gamers who were desperate for help. I increasingly began to feel that the young people who were spending money on gaming products in a compulsive and destructive manner also needed our help.»
The subject of 'game addiction' has always been a thorny one. We've come a long way from the lack of nuance we saw in the late 90s, where a moral panic over Mortal Kombat's gory finishers (among other things) was responsible for establishing the ratings codes we use today. While the idea of games causing violence has been thoroughly disproven, the fallout of those panics has left many with a difficult gut response to headlines like the above.
The clinic, however, seems more concerned with the unhealthy relationships people can form with games over the course of a difficult childhood.
«Most of our patients are young and male, often around the ages of 16 or 17. They may have been high achievers in academic pursuits or sports. Then something happens to disrupt this successful journey.»
«The pattern of harm often starts with a change of circumstance,»
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