Social problems to blame for 90% of gaming "addiction"

Keith Bakker of the Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam - a unit that treats videogaming addiction in young people - has told the BBC that he's changing his methods as 90 percent of those that come to the clinic are wanting nothing more than a bit of a hug.

"These kids come in showing some kind of symptoms that are similar to other addictions and chemical dependencies," he said.

"But the more we work with these kids the less I believe we can call this addiction. What many of these kids need is their parents and their school teachers - this is a social problem."

Using traditional abstinence-based treatment models the clinic has had very high success rates treating people who also show other addictive behaviours such as drug-taking and heavy drinking.

But Bakker believes that this kind of cross-addiction affects only 10 percent of gamers.

More through there.