Internet addiction treatment on the NHS

[suzieseaside]

Now to be treated on the stretched NHS, which recently announced cutbacks on joint replacements, so if you can't walk - tough, you'll have to live with the pain..

Not saying that internet addiction shouldn't be taken seriously by the NHS; gaming disorder has been classified as an addiction by the WHO, but surely the potential problems of excessive internet use have been evident for a long time. It is/was bound to become a problem for some individuals and no doubt puts a strain on their families.

When it happens to children ....... why aren't parents keeping an eye on their childrens' use of the internet (too convenient to let let them play away out of sight?), and shouldn't schools have helped to educate children of the dangers? Or have they? 

Is it so impossible to use the off button or to encourage children to try other pursuits as well as sitting at their computers/tablets/phones for hours?

Maybe some internet giants with their massive profits could consider funding some internet addiction clinics? What do you think?

[cee-dee]

Very strong words there, hard hitting but true.

Your friend seems to be beyond help. I too have seen what addiction to alcohol can do. It hits home when you see a death certificate for a very attractive woman stating the causes of death to be:-

1/ Brain damage caused by alcoholic poisoning.

2/ Cirrhosis of the liver.

Her age was 46.

[fallen-archie]

Well I like a pint of real ale, but I haven’t had one for weeks, I have been to the pub but only consumed soft drinks and not a drop of alcohol has touched my lips for weeks! If I can do it anyone can! I am not an alcoholic but I could have been, I remember long lunches in London when vast quantities of wine were consumed and when we returned to work we were unfit for purpose! But that was all part of the way we lived our lives back then, it’s like the mining communities where clubs and pubs were places of social worship and when most could go to church on a Sunday and get their sins forgiven safe in the knowledge that the pub wouldn’t be open until after the church service was finished! But how many folk were true alcoholics and how many were simply socialising, networking a bit like we now do with our phones on the internet. What possible harm could there be in going out at a lunchtime for a game of dominoes down the pub or to participate in a card school playing for matches? The only one I can think of is the fact everyone smoked, which is a whole different story. Yes there were alcoholics but most were quickly barred from the pubs leaving them to drink themselves to death at home or on the streets but we certainly didn’t have the array of drugs to use and abuse that folk do today. What is it that makes someone take cocaine or heroine I just don’t get it ?

[Anonymous]

It is hard to understand why anyone would take a drug. Some might have no good reason, they just slowly get drawn deeper as the kicks of a "lighter" substance wear off. Others use because they just can't face life any other way. Not behind ever addict is an abused child or other trauma of course, but as we don't know that I don't think we can turn people away for help.

A very good friend of mine died from the result of alcohol abuse. She was 36 and left 4 kids. I lived for a year with an alcoholic when I was younger. Dragged him to rehab etc. He had been since he was about 19 and was 30 at the time I was with him. He had always drank a lot, but it spun out of control when his mum died. His dad was an alcoholic as well.

I have seen drug addiction all around me. My cousin ran one of "those" cafes in Amsterdam and I worked there for a while. How come I'm not one of them? I had easy access to every drug you can think off.

I liked a Martini and drank enough of that, until I noticed I was drinking some every day and I just stopped and reduced it to once a week when going out. Simple....Yes for me it was. I also had no inclination to touch any drugs. They just had no attraction for me whatsoever. The only thing I ever did was sharing maybe 10 spliffs over my whole lifetime. Again, not my thing really.

But I smoked for 40 years, since I was 16. It still had to cause me COPD before I found the strength to stop cold turkey.

So should I not get help because I smoked? Should my friend not have had help; she suffered abuse when young and in her marriage. Should my then boyfriend not had help?

Do we really want to start to play father Xmas. Have you been naughty or nice?

It is just a very hard subject and brings up more questions than answers and maybe people should do more to help themselves, but condemning people to basically rot and die because they haven't is for me not an option.

[astrologica]

Hello Harry! Would you agree that the inclination to addiction can be hereditary? I definitely think so...indeed, my friends brother drinks to excess, but is not yet at the stage that my friend is. Wouldn't it be good if people's DNA could be tested to see if they have an 'addiction' gene. They could be told when young, and it would maybe help people to avoid addictive substances. But even then there would probably be those that ignored the advice. 

I really wouldn't want to condemn anyone , but I do feel that if the person doesn't really want to get better then it is a total waste of resources. In my friend's case, having known her for many years, it is clear that the cause of her drinking was the relationship with her sons. I feel that if she had been offered psychiatric help early on when she started drinking too much, and maybe some ongoing counselling to help her to cope, then she may not have gone down the alcoholic Road, but that never happened.

She has been waiting for almost a year to go into rehab again, but when I saw her this morning she said she doesn't want to go during August as her son might come and visit (he lives abroad). It's clear that that is just an excuse, and she has no intention of going anyway. It's so frustrating, but it it is tragic too...it breaks my heart to see her declining.

I used to like Martini too! But I rarely touch alcohol now, and I don't miss it.

[bankhaunter]

My mother was an alcoholic though controlled to a small ration each day, my ex wife was until her doctor gave her 6 months to live unless she stopped. She did stop and had a much better life being addicted to smoothies for the next five years until two primary cancers finished her off.

Back in the 60s I worked in a wine merchants and we knew which of our customers were alcoholics, it wasn't hard to tell.

I was on a long bus journey a few days ago, a couple on the bus were so desperate for a cigarette, they checked three times with the driver to see if he was stopping for a while at particular stops.

The whole journey was only about two and a quarter hours.

[**bustysinclaire**]

https://www.12keysrehab.com/is-addictive-personality-genetic/

[cee-dee]

Still waiting for your answer from #18?

[Anonymous]

Astro, I don't know if addictions can be hereditary. I do think that some people are more prone to them. I was obviously not prone to drugs nor alcohol addiction, but the cigarettes became my poison.

Everyone in my family smoked, as many people did when I grew up.

You could argue that I had plenty of reasons to give up, like my children being born, 1 uncle and an aunt dying from lung cancer, one aunt dying partly from emphysema. But I didn't. Only when I found myself out of breath a lot did I go to the doctor. Plus Emb, one of the posters on here dying gave me a bit of a push. So I haven't smoked now for 1 and a half year.

This time somehow I was more motivated. Why now and not then? I don't know.

I tried stopping before, but I suppose I just found excuses like every addict will. That is the problem with an addiction. We all think we can stop tomorrow, but when it comes to it we will postpone.

I don't know if knowing that you have an “addictive” gen would stop anyone. People who have a known history of diabetes in the family will still eat lots of sugar and let themselves become obese. So I really don't know if knowledge of an illness will actually stop us. It might stop some though.

I haven't drank for at least 25 years. Just lost interest. My husband has also not drank for that length of time. We never go out and don't miss it. He does still smoke though, so there you have it. Even though he sees me struggling with my breathing. He doesn't smoke near me though.