Due to the increase in behavioural addiction among the youth, especially in the metro cities, say, doctors, there is a growing need to cater to these cases at specialised clinics. Keeping this in mind, Department of Psychiatry of Centre of Excellence in Mental Health at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital has started a 'Behavioral Addiction Clinic', where patients with various kinds of addiction including social media, food, and exercise addiction will get specialised treatment.
"The whole idea is to dedicate a team that specialises in these disorders. These are not the traditional mental illnesses that can be taken care at a psychiatry clinic. Behavioural addiction includes all kinds of cases like social media addiction, compulsive buying, and even compulsive need to do exercise," said Dr RP Beniwal, Senior psychiatrist, department of psychiatry, Centre of Excellence in Mental Health, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
The hospital is receiving anywhere between three and five cases of behavioural addiction a day. The clinic will run between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm every Friday. There are new cases every week, mostly between the age group of ten and 30, with an equal number of follow up cases. Depending on the case, it may take 10-12 weekly session that involves Cognitive Behavioral Therapies leading to modifying the cognitions (thought process), activity scheduling and behavioural analysis over time.
"The clinic will have one psychiatry and one clinical psychologist, who has had special training in dealing with these cases. One would not believe, but the need to eat despite having a full meal is also a kind of addiction and needs treatment," said Dr Beniwal.
A similar clinic is being run at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where patients are being treated for a social media addiction since 2016.
