The Telegraph reports that Britain has gone and opened its first computer rehab clinic Broadway Lodge in Weston-super-Mare, England.
The clinic — which treats hundreds of people addicted to gambling, alcohol and drugs as well as people suffering from eating disorders and co-dependency — employs an abstinence approach to breaking addiction. Additionally, they have detox programs and art therapy programs.
The clinic's website hasn't been updated to reflect its new computer addiction services — but the Telegraph reports the clinic's had success using the 12-step program similar to the one used by Alcoholics Anonymous to treat young adults.
But, before you cry out for the blood of people who unfairly cast World of Warcraft as an insidious, addictive substance — consider that the clinic's chief executive acknowledges that the game itself isn't the problem:
Mr Dudley believes treating game addiction needs a different approach to "conventional" vices like drink and drugs.
''Obviously this is the very early stages of researching how many youngsters are affected," he said. ''But I would stick my neck out and say between five and ten per cent of parents or partners would say they know of someone addicted to an online game. However, you can't simply say to a 23-year-old male 'you should never use the internet again'. It's just not practical. So we go through all the issues surrounding gaming use and ensure there are triggers through which an addict recognises their usage has become a problem."
See? Nice and rational. Let's just hope their treatment is equally rational — none of that electroshock crap that allegedly goes on in China.
Britain's first computer rehab clinic opens [Telegraph via GamePolitics]
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