There are plenty of kids under 18 who spend a lot of time playing video games. But just because they’re compulsive about it doesn’t mean they’re addicted, according to Keith Bakker, head of the Smith & Jones Center in Amsterdam, Europe’s only gaming addiction clinic.
Instead, he feels, the problem might well be social, and the clinic has begun changing its treatment accordingly. The more usual abstinence therapy has worked where the young people have also displayed other addictions, such as alcohol, but that’s only 10% of the patients. For the other 90%, Bakker feels, activity-based and social skills are more effective.
