Fortnite: They study the world’s first clinical case of a teenage girl hospitalized for video game addiction | He was hospitalized for two months

Doctors and researchers in Castellón, Spain have published the world’s first known clinical case of an adolescent, a minor, who had to stay two months of hospitalization for a serious Fortnite video game addiction.

The child showed a rejection of social interactions, a resistance to going to health services and a low interest in his environment.

These are the symptoms that alarmed the family, as explained in a press release from the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) of Castellón. Then, they found that he exhibited alterations in the performance of basic activities of daily living, such as the rhythm of sleep.

“It was a minor with a very high previous academic performance. The family had observed since the beginning of the year a greater absenteeism from school ”, explained the scientists.

After evaluation, professionals claimed that video game addiction acted as a compensation for the intense distress caused by the loss of a family member and because of the anxiety caused by the increased level of demand in the educational context.

Fortnite addiction treatment

Researchers have identified two potentially addictive aspects of Fornite:the imposition of deadlines to meet the challenges of each season and not lose the progress, and access to live streaming platforms that show people playing while discussing their strategies.

The treatment adopted had an intensive multidisciplinary approach, starting from a cognitive-behavioral approach.

“We work with both the patient and their family and, at the same time, we implement intervention strategies such as cognitive restructuring, development of personal skills, contingency management and setting guidelines at the daily “, details the report.

At the end of the treatment, the patient was able to understand “the negative repercussions that the use of video games” had on his daily life. “It allowed him to approach the mourning of the death of a member of his family and to understand how the use of gambling served as a refuge for his emotional distress, ”commented the researchers.

The results showed a significant reduction in the use of screens – in a first phase after hospitalization, with monitoring -, as well as an improvement in the patient’s social functioning.

Video game disorder

Internet addiction was proposed as a “behavioral disorder” in 1995 and in 2010 it was defined as “the loss of control which generates the appearance of unwanted behavior”.

WHO also included the disorder in 2018 by video games among mental illnesses. Experts do not consider video games to be a problem in themselves, On the contrary, its proper use can have educational and social benefits and can even be therapeutic for certain disorders.

However, professionals consider that there are indicators of abuse in the consumption of video games: social withdrawal, poor academic results, existence of psychopathological problems (depression, perfectionist or obsessive personality) and socio-family problems, little control parental or external stresses).