A psychiatrist and “gaming addiction expert” in Australia says what the country really needs is a rehabilitation clinic dedicated to helping sufferers of videogame addiction.
The fact that Australia doesn’t have an effective videogame rating system doesn’t seem to bother Vladan Starcevic, a professor of psychiatry at Sydney University. The real problem, apparently, is the lack of a gaming addiction rehab clinic like Broadway Lodge, a residential treatment center in the U.K. that recently began taking on videogame addicts.
“I think it’s good that someone has taken this seriously,” Starcevic told the Herald Sun. “I think it should be recognized that this is a problem for some people.”
Starcevic recently conducted a poll of 2000 gamers and found that as many as ten percent showed signs of “addicted behavior.” Roughly 70 percent of “problem gamers” spent more than four hours a day playing, he added.
“We have people in this country who do have a problem with that just like with gambling and other addictive behaviors,” Starcevic said.
Regardless of whether this proposed Australian rehab center for addicts would offer a $14,500 multi-week program featuring personal life coaches, nutritional education and mindfulness training, or just beat people senseless and electrocute the hell out of them, I think it’s awesome that there’s suddenly a very real possibility that Australia could end up with a videogame addiction center before it gets an 18+ rating for videogames. Good on ya, mates!
via: GamePolitics
