Therapists Use Avatars to Treat World of Warcraft Addicts

2009-08-01 16:16:29 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Medical News, News)

Wired PR News reports some therapists have resorted to using World of Warcraft to battle gaming addiction.

Medical professionals are resorting to new means to help young individuals addicted to the game.

Press Release Service – Wired PR News – Therapists are resorting to the use of online therapy for patients with gaming addictions. As reported by the Telegraph.co.uk, the issue of gaming addiction has led some addiction therapists to use the medium to reach out to World of Warcraft players who may have lost touch with reality, and spend a significant portion of their day focusing on the game.

As noted in the report, the Sweden based Youth Care Foundation recently released a report comparing an addiction to World of Warcraft to one on crack cocaine. Dr. Richard Graham, a psychiatrist with the London based Tavistock Centre, is quoted in the report as stating of the online therapy plans, “We will be launching this project by the end of the year. I think it’s already clear that psychiatrists will have to stay within the parameters of the game. They certainly wouldn’t be wandering around the game in white coats and would have to use the same characters available to other players.”

Graham is further quoted as stating of those impacted by the issue, “Those affected don’t exhibit the same outward warning signs as most teenage anti-social behavior issues do because they’re in their bedrooms most of the time, seemingly out of trouble. Because of this we can’t get through to them in the traditional educational environment or intrude on their actual bedrooms, we need to turn to the Internet itself to tackle these problems.”

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