Treatment for gaming addiction

What can you do about gaming addiction? Chris Berrow spoke to Eytan Alexander, founder of the UK Addiction Treatment Group which is known as UKAT.

Eytan - Gaming addiction is like any other addiction. It's a compulsive obsessive disorder which gets us through the same thing over and over and over again and I think this time the result will be different.

Chris - So how do you help people with gaming addiction.

Eytan - We look at the underlying root causes because ultimately addiction itself is the manifestation of something. I've got a hole somewhere which I avoid which I need to fill and with the game he fills it with gaming. But really it's about the root causes. We would look at their low self-esteem or the fantasy world that they were entering into instead of their everyday life and what they're trying to escape from. And instead of trying to address these issues in a in a healthy way they sweep it under the carpet and we look underneath the carpet through talking therapies and what we need to look at is through group therapy within treatments in a in a safe setting is those commonalities where people get some identification of what's truly going on for them.

Chris - Do we know who it's most likely to be affected?

Eytan -  Gaming addiction can affect anyone of any age gender race or sex as addiction does not discriminate against anyone. There's this thought process that it is a younger generation generally would people win the game he's been around now for long enough where you would find people in their 30s and 40s who are playing and and spending extreme amounts of time. And most people who come in they may be using drink or drugs around this as well too so that they can stay up for longer. But ultimately this addiction can affect anyone.