HUNDREDS of kids have been treated for gaming addiction by the NHS after getting hooked on titles such as Fifa and Minecraft.
Nearly 500 youngsters or their families have received medical help from the National Centre for Gaming Disorders since it opened in late 2019.
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Nearly nine in ten patients were teenage boys and young men.
Seven referrals to the clinic were for dangerously obsessed gamers under the age of 13.
Experts say that their addiction can be so strong they lose the “power of choice” — ditching food, school and even sleep.
The World Health Organisation classifies it as a medical disorder.
Nuno Albuquerque, consultant treatment lead for the UK Addiction Treatment Group, was “unsurprised” by the scale of the problem.
He said: “We speak to worried parents every week who are trying to figure out how to help their child.”
Becky Harris, a family therapist at Central and North West London NHS Trust which runs the clinic, said staff work with clients “to reduce gaming time and increase other activities”.
