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from the today-I-learned-that-gaming-disorder-is-real dept.
Increase in gaming disorder in UK forcing people into private treatment at home or abroad
Jan Willem Poot, 40, a former addict turned entrepreneur who set up the clinic, said it was seeing a 20-30% annual increase in people – mainly young men – coming in with gaming dependency. "Also, in the beginning it was eight to 10 hours of playing but at this moment we have got kids who game 18-19 hours a day. They sometimes go weeks without showers and are not eating."
Gaming disorder is defined by the World Health Organization as a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour so severe that it takes "precedence over other life interests". Symptoms include impaired control over gaming and continuation or escalation of gaming despite negative consequences.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:11AM (1 child)
Gaming disorder was defined by the World Health Organization in the year 2k19,
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday August 19 2019, @05:41PM
And addiction is defined by consequences.
If it's ruining your life then it's bad regardless of how trivial you may think the addictive behavior is.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday August 19 2019, @08:17AM (10 children)
Addictions that don't lead to disease or death should NOT be covered by the national insurance. Gaming addition certainly fits in the category of non-life-threatening idiotic lifestyle choices. I mean what next? Gambling? Nose picking?
I would rather the NHS used their limited resources to fight alcohol, tobacco or cocaine addiction, because those addictions end up being costly to society when the addicts get cancer, or start committing robberies to get the money for their fix. Game addicts can jolly well sell their expensive gaming PC to fund their own rehab, is what I say.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:28AM (2 children)
The gaming addict needs to steal to fund the electricity for their gaming rig, new games, parts, food, property tax, etc.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @09:24AM (1 child)
Their parents just need to stop enabling them. If they had the guts to take away the game system, internet or electricity then this wouldn't be a problem.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday August 19 2019, @03:32PM
If that person living in their basement is a legal adult, then should the parent have a right to take away their games? Or their electricity?
NHS could recommend that a good thearapy, for both the parents and the poor unfortunate gamer, would be for the parents to furnish the gamer with a separate and continuously restocked basement refrigerator.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:54AM (3 children)
I think this aligns more with a mental health disorder. We help people with those, so why not this.
I'm not big on medicating people, but this sort of obsessive compulsive stuff supposedly can be treated with medication. Literally, something is wrong... and needs to be fixed.
I'm not talking about "playing nightly", but this 20 hour, no showers for weeks" stuff is definitely a medical, mental issue.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday August 19 2019, @12:42PM (2 children)
I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I don't understand the point of pretending plain ole OCD is a different disease if the root cause seems the same as does the treatment.
It would be like having entirely separate budgets and treatment programs for alcoholics based on if they drink scotch or kentucky bourbon.
Or for the standard SN car analogy, its like having a separate emergency room treatment protocol and paperwork for people needing stitches from a "ford" car accident vs a "GM" car accident resulting in an identical wound. Insert snarky comment here about Tesla car accidents needing specialized Tesla burn treatment, although its frankly not that funny. Its true however that any EV car battery fire would result in very similar skin burns.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Tuesday August 20 2019, @05:57AM (1 child)
Addiction-based behavior is completely different from OCD. In an addiction, the person engages in a pleasurable activity in place of healthy coping skills for daily life stress, often due to an undiagnosed mental illness.
In OCD, the person can have healthy coping skills for stress like anyone else, but experiences obsessive distressing thoughts or severe anxiety, and compulsively performs neutral or even harmful behavior (e.g. checking knobs on a stove every 20 minutes, excessive skin picking) that temporarily alleviates the anxiety. (The Wikipedia entry [wikipedia.org] describes it much better than I do.)
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday August 21 2019, @01:21PM
Well, OK. I guess I always kinda think of popular named "gaming addiction" as being stuff like checking your farmville every 15 minutes to make sure the tomatoes haven't rotted that would seem to be a OCD like illness. I have a relative who was like that, otherwise very normal but got extremely weird for a couple years about checking her farm even at holiday parties and stuff, exactly like your stove knob checking example. She seems normal now and doesn't farmville so like many addictions or OCD stuff sometimes it just goes away?
The FPS players get an adrenaline hit once in a while, which should be fun, but aren't most "conventionally styled as gaming addicts" really bored and unhappy while playing grind games? They seem that way, in the few I've seen and met.
There probably are many "conventionally styled in the media as gaming addicts" who are OCD or addicts. I bet theres more OCD victims than actual addicts, although there seems to be little to google for because I'm not sure self reporting and self treatment reflects the overall population.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday August 19 2019, @03:07PM
Except they do cause disease and health problems [sciencedaily.com]. People who play lots of games tend to be more likely to be obese, to have cardiovascular health issues, etc.
Gambling can be a serious addiction, and the NHS has some advice about that [www.nhs.uk]. It's probably less likely to have direct health consequences than gaming, I'd imagine. But in some cases it indicates (or is a consequence of) serious mental health problems.
As noted above, compulsive gaming tends to contribute to higher rates of obesity, worse cardiovascular health, more sleep disorders, etc. Obesity has serious health costs for society (including things like diabetes, etc.) and treating heart disease isn't cheap either. Sleep disorders tend to contribute to overall health problems that lead to things like obesity and other illness. As for your concern about "death" expressed at the beginning of the post, note that heart disease actually tends to be the most common cause of death in adults (greater even than cancer). And gaming addiction coupled with these problems has other costs for society (like general illness, missed work, decreased productivity, etc.).
Note that I am NOT claiming that gaming addiction should necessarily be a high priority. I'm not claiming that I know the best way to allocate resources. But pretending that it doesn't contribute to significant health problems that could lead to "disease or death" is just not looking at what it actually does. "Gaming addiction" isn't just playing games a little each day -- it's playing them to a point that it's disrupting a normal lifestyle, leading to neglect of common things (like reasonable eating and sleeping and exercise habits) that could otherwise keep you healthy.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday August 19 2019, @03:29PM
This shows an astonishing lack of empathy and compassion.
Next, you'll say that offended "Social" "Media" "Influencers" should not be eligible for healthcare to treat their deeply offended condition. (please note that it is strictly necessary to separately quote each word of social media influencers.) When a business rejects a "proposal" to give the SMI free goods or services in exchange for the SMI accepting those goods or services, the amount of harm can be great enough to require hospitalization. And some means of transport to said hospital.
And what about Professional YouTubers who get demonitized and can't exercise their God Given Right to make money on YouTube -- which is a free public platform that dropped out of the heavens fully formed, intended for professional youtubers to build a successful career that is more profitable than skateboarding of gaming? Shouldn't they also be eligible for national healthcare?
What is the world coming to? What about the poor professional Internet Meme Creators? And Professional Career Students For Life?
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @04:47PM
Yes, Virginia, gambling disorder is a real thing in DSM-5 too. [psychiatry.org] No realli! [ncpgambling.org]
Nose picking might be.... but Skin Picking Disorder is [bfrb.org].
Behavior addictions, like substance addictions, share the commonality that adverse consequences have to be occurring because of the behavior. They have to rise to the level of causing actual dysfunction. The disorders are generally seen as a problem of impulse control. It also shares treatment commonalities in using both forms of talk therapy (often cognitive behavioral therapy) and in some cases medication. And other anxiety disorders are often comorbid.
Why not just tell alcoholics, tobacco users, or cocaine addicts to just say no, or just give it up? Tobacco users these days are fully conversant with the future damage they are causing to themselves and others and it's usually only their defense behaviors that prevent action.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:44AM (1 child)
Sorry, guy who needs a new kidney, some gamer needed those rehab facilities first, makes for a better sob story.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @04:48PM
Sorry, dude, people who need kidneys need different resources than addicts. Oopsie!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Rivenaleem on Monday August 19 2019, @09:59AM (14 children)
Sell people a package with a chance of containing the treatment for gaming addiction.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday August 19 2019, @12:03PM (12 children)
We don't sell health care 'packages' in the UK. The National Health Service is paid for by the government funded by taxation. Everybody who needs treatment for recognised conditions gets treated regardless of how much they have paid in. The fact that WHO have only just 'recognised' this as a genuine condition means that funds haven't been allocated for this specific need.
My own view is that this should be a very low priority for health care. There are far more important things needing treatment than gaming addiction.
(Score: 4, Funny) by VLM on Monday August 19 2019, @12:35PM (3 children)
Groan...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loot_box [wikipedia.org]
It was a good attempt by someone at an ironic joke, loot box gambling mentality being what the victims are addicted to, its a "funny" to propose their treatment be a similar gamble...
As a kind of related issue, you'll note that
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_humor [wikipedia.org]
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_humour [wikipedia.org]
don't just link to the same page. That would be a pretty funny April 1st joke, but y'all probably don't have April Fools day over there anyways.
Anyway, have a nice day... err... let me translate that from "midwestern USA" to "airstrip one" for you ... Have a right jolly good tea time my dear chap.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday August 19 2019, @12:56PM
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday August 19 2019, @07:46PM (1 child)
A post that not only explains the joke but links to two separate Wikipedia articles explaining what humor is.
You must be great fun at parties!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:23PM
Still preferable to his Hitler cosplay.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 19 2019, @01:07PM (7 children)
Enter the death panels!
And their view is most likely very different!
Let us also keep in mind that this health condition inordinately affects the young, and hence, fixing it has larger payback than fixing similar mental health problems for the elderly.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday August 19 2019, @01:54PM
The NHS doesn't decide which medical problems are recognised. They accept that WHO decision in this instance. But as that decision has been made only recently then there are no funds allocated to that area until the next budget. The NHS will have to take money which is currently allocated elsewhere.
So you are saying that there are relatively few things more important than gaming addiction? Which ones? Traffic accidents? Kidney failure? Birth defects? I didn't say that it wasn't important, I said that there are far more important things to consider. When the NHS is short of funding - as it currently is - then it is right to prioritise on the more important and some things are bound to be of a lesser importance.
Of course, their view is different - they are only thinking of their own problems. Society has to balance that against the needs of everyone. Unless you have a similar system to that, say, in the USA where the rich will be OK but the poor might not be able to afford any treatment whatsoever.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @02:36PM (4 children)
As opposed to what, the private insurance death panels that exist in the US? How many people have died due to lack of access to healthcare? Answer: Tens of thousands per year. Even for people with insurance, insurance companies routinely try to weasel out of paying for people's care to save themselves money or simply don't cover certain procedures to begin with, which can and does endanger lives. Or, you can just go bankrupt from medical debt, which is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the US.
Yeah, the rapacious, price-gouging, murderous insurance companies are so superior to the Evil Death Panels in other first world countries, even though the latter produces far better outcomes for the average person in just about every way. No healthcare system is perfect, but for every flaw you can point out with some implementation of some country's single payer system, the same flaw likely exists in the US system in a much worse form.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 19 2019, @09:01PM (3 children)
And public. Don't forget the various regulatory agencies that decide what health insurance should be covering. The point of the "death panels" remark is that there's always someone who decides how much healthcare you receive. With private insurance and payment out of your wallet, at least you, the patient are on the death panel.
You can always sue them, if they break contract. Who to sue, if some agency, not even part of your government, decides not to recognize your illness.
It's more like tens of millions a year worldwide. You will never have access to healthcare that will keep you alive as long as you want to stay alive.
And that's pretty much the talking point defense of every other health care system in the world - that it's not quite as bad as the US system. Imagine if you told your boss that you shouldn't be fired because you're not the worst employee he/she has?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @09:24PM (2 children)
If someone always decides, then I'll go with a universal healthcare system, because that has been shown to work better by all the other first world countries that have tried it.
If you live in a democratic country, you have a chance to vote to improve the healthcare system. That might not be easy, but most people don't have the money or resources to play games with giant, rapacious insurance companies, either.
Nope, because most people don't have the money or time to sue insurance companies. And oftentimes, the insurance companies don't even need to break the contract, because the contracts are overwhelmingly written in their favor to begin with.
There are tens of thousands of preventable deaths happening in the US every year due to our broken healthcare system. Other first world countries somehow don't have this issue.
Other countries have significantly better outcomes for the average person, and have less expensive healthcare systems overall. Not only are they better, but they are significantly better, That's really the key point here: Regardless of what theoretical objections you may have to universal healthcare systems, they demonstrably work out better for the average person than the US's death panel system. What matters is what happens in practice.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 20 2019, @01:15AM (1 child)
Notice the use of the phrase "other countries". The US has already tried universal coverage for selected groups via the Veterans Administration and Medicaid with rather terrible results. The failure is more than just not having the right sort of high level system. My view is that a market-based healthcare system worked fine for the US in 1970 (and would be pretty good compared to the health care systems of today). What changed since is far more than just slightly more rapacious insurance companies. It's many decades of good intentions that caused more harm than they fixed.
As I see it, eventually the US system will fail, somewhat more universal coverage or not. Then it'll naturally degrade to sucks-to-be-you healthcare for the masses. And I can't say that will worse than the present or your proposed change.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @11:23PM
That is not universal coverage; that's a bandaid that leaves rapacious, price-gouging insurance companies in charge. Again, the facts speak for themselves: Other countries have tried universal healthcare systems, and they've worked far better than any "market-based" system. Even the countries that have comparatively more market-based healthcare systems such as Singepore have to employ hefty regulations to make it run smoothly. There is no evidence whatsoever that some complete free market system would work.
Except for the tens of millions of people not covered, you mean. If you ignore the countless issues it had, then sure, you can say it was great.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday August 19 2019, @05:36PM
Fortunately UK citizens can simply pay for private treatment if they don’t like what’s pffered on the NHS
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @12:34PM
Get them to debug 8048 assembler programs - worked for me!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @10:45AM (1 child)
Works for me.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday August 19 2019, @03:37PM
You appear to fail to understand that the games require power in order to operate. You cannot just cut off vital equipment.
You wouldn't cut off a patient's home dialysis equipment would you?
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @11:18AM (2 children)
The gamer who is seeking help for addiction already recognizes they have a problem which is arguably the first step toward recovery. However stopping "cold turkey" may prove to be extremely difficult or impossible. For those people I propose they simply stop upgrading their computers but continue playing their existing games. Over time their system will become less able to satisfy their desire thus making it easier to quit while avoiding the worst withdrawal symptoms. This is not dissimilar to how drug addiction is treated.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday August 19 2019, @03:38PM (1 child)
You seem to be assuming that the gamer is using Windows. Probably that is generally true. But it is an assumption.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @07:38PM
Not sure how you got "Windows" from that... Gamers typically have high-end rigs with powerful graphics cards. If they stop upgrading the hardware, the system will become less able to play modern games; allowing them to withdraw in a controlled manner.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @06:36PM
cat o' nine tails! yee haw!