The founder of the first NHS clinic created to treat gaming disorders has admitted she “was not prepared” for what she has seen since its opening.
Dr. Henrietta Bowden-Jones is the director of the National Centre for Gaming Disorders, an NHS clinic which opened its doors in 2020 expecting to see “no more than 50 patients a year.”
But writing in the Guardian, Dr. Bowden-Jones said the clinic has received about 800 referrals in just over three years.
She wrote: “The desperation of the families trying to address the disruption that gaming harms have had on their children is extreme.
“I was not prepared for what we came across, with violence within the home and refusal to go to school being prominent.”…