'Games addict' rehab service opened in UK

**Shrygue** · March 18th, 2010, 17:53

via Computer and Video Games

A London consultant psychiatrist has set up a new rehab service for youngsters addicted to the internet, mobile phones and, of course, videogames.

Richard Graham started the service to help "screenagers", as he calls them according to Metro newspaper, whose lives are apparently "impaired" by their addictions.

"Mental health services need to adapt quickly to the changing worlds young people inhabit and understand how seriously their lives can be impaired by unregulated time online, on-screen or in-game," said Graham, based at Capio Nightingale Hospital in London.

Addicted teens go mental when told to turn off their electronics, and police often called to settle feuds, reports the paper. The service, the first in UK to be dedicated to children as young as 12, was started in response to calls from worried parents.

Graham says other services are outdated, "borrowing from older models of addiction and substance misuse to very limited effect".

We wonder if he'll do treatments through PlayStation Home...

**XDelusion** · March 18th, 2010, 18:14

But that's there choice, God created them that way. Why try to reform them?!?! Can't you see they will kill them selves if they are not understood, if they can't quench their appetite?!?

Oh wait, sorry, wrong argument.

**jungletek** · March 19th, 2010, 00:17

If parents had control of their children, weren't afraid of them or their nasty behavior, then this would be a non-issue.

Parents these days are pretty weak-willed, in general. It's no surprise they let their spoiled brats have run of the roost...

That said, this doctor is blatantly an opportunist. But perhaps he'll be able to instill some sense of respect and proper behavior... so perhaps there's a silver lining.

**symbal** · March 19th, 2010, 01:21

Parents are no more weak willed than they've ever been, it's the stupid laws that mean you can go to jail for disciplining your kid that's the problem, and some kids have got their parents scared because they threaten to call childline or whatever if they don't get their own way.

**VampDude** · March 19th, 2010, 10:04

Originally Posted by Shrygue

Addicted teens go mental when told to turn off their electronics, and police often called to settle feuds, reports the paper.

That's because they are purely bastards...

What a way to get a police record though, videogames are the VERY reason I haven't got one, even though for no reason would I get one anyway.