“Virtual reality puts kids in rehab” plus 2 more

Virtual reality puts kids in rehab
Summer camps for kids
Kids: Hershey's track meet is Saturday

Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Posted: 06 Jun 2010 07:00 AM PDT

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Scene from .... World of Warcraft. Source: The Daily Telegraph

Dr Philip Tam works at the Rivendell Child Adolescent & Family Unit and helps children who are addicted to online gaming. Pic. Brad Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph

SCHOOL children have become so dangerously hooked on computer games that they were being offered live-in treatment at adolescent psychiatric facilities to wean them off their addiction.

The first teenager admitted to hospital partly due to computer addiction was living full-time at the Rivendell Adolescent Unit at Concord, receiving therapy and doing schoolwork.

Are you worried about your kids and their computer games? Ask our expert, child psychiatrist Dr Philip Tam who blogs live at 3pm today. Send Qs here.

But psychiatrists said they were receiving a flood of calls from distressed families seeking help for children who had fallen victim to the condition known as "pathological internet use".

Mental health professionals said schools were reporting students falling asleep in class after marathon online sessions playing highly addictive games such as World Of Warcraft.

The teen, who cannot be identified, was being treated by Rivendell for mental illness along with serious problems arising from computer gaming.

He slept in the unit from Monday to Friday and returned home at weekends.

The Year 11 boy, at Rivendell voluntarily, accepted that he needed to be separated from his computer if the treatment was to be successful.

Last year the first retreat for internet addicts opened its doors in Washington State in the US, welcoming a teen who had become a captive player of World Of Warcraft.

Mental health experts said Australia may soon need similar specialist rehabilitation facilities.

In the most extreme cases, teens and young adults were spending up to 50 hours almost non-stop playing online computer games. Psychiatrists had confirmed anecdotal evidence that some wear nappies during long sessions so they won't have to take a toilet break.

A Sydney mother who had sought professional help for her 18-year-old daughter said yesterday the problem was widespread among young people.

"There are children dying from this ... 17-year-olds committing suicide - I have been to a funeral," the woman said. "They become isolated and then depressed, suffer from a lack of motivation, don't socialise or get a job. It's not just boys. Girls are sitting in front of the computer all night playing these games against others."

Rivendell pyschiatrist Dr Philip Tam said: "They can't stop playing. The longest I've had is a teenage schoolboy playing 37 hours non-stop with only toilet breaks.

"It's analagous to severe gambling. It's very seductive. An increasing number of psychologists are treating people now. There are no quality statistics but research is being done."

Many patients seeking help were in the 14 to 17 age group but health professionals believed those who presented were just the "tip of the iceberg".

"Most kids with these problems don't come anywhere near a psychiatrist - they just run into problems at school," Dr Tam said. "This is likely to continue to grow inexorably and in ways we cannot yet imagine

"It's not just computer addiction - there are other problems. There are issues of depression, of social anxiety, family problems.

"The computer is almost like an escape. That's why you might call it the Facebook Generation.

"Going on Facebook is far more fun often than sitting with your own family."

Psychiatrists are developing a scale to measure the extent of a patient's computer addiction.

"We're only just seeing people for computer use," Dr Tam said. "These are tricky and complex cases and the people themselves often don't see it as a problem. It's families and the teachers who see the problem."

Up to 10 per cent of computer users are thought to meet criteria for addiction.

Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Summer camps for kids

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 12:45 PM PDT

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As summer gets in full swing more kids are signing up for camps in Michiana.

Camp Fire hosts a day camp at Merrifield Park and an overnight camp on Lake Birch. Kids get to swim, fish, and play games.

Counselors say they encourage kids to get outside and be active and leave the technology at home and the kids enjoy the fresh air. Camp Tawanchi Director Brooke Hull says, "Just being outside. I think being away from the TV, the video games, having interaction with other kids, getting to make new friends and having a good time outside."

Camps are offered to boys and girls throughout the summer. The day camp in Mishawaka is available for kids ages 5-12 and the overnight camp is for ages 6-16. For more information call, 574-234-4145 or go to www.riverbendcampfire.org.

Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Kids: Hershey's track meet is Saturday

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 03:15 PM PDT

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Kids Games

Tuesday, June 8, 2010