Gambling addicts in digital detox camp

Now he has taken help and this summer he is at a digital detox camp at Drevvikens beach in Huddinge.

The World Health Organization WHO has been describing computer game addiction as a mental illness since 2018, but in Sweden that diagnosis does not yet exist. But there is still help to be had. We met some who this summer get help at a digital detox camp at Drevvikens beach in Huddinge.

For five days, Erik Werkelin, and ten other participants, learn to understand and handle compulsive and negative computer gaming.

- It absolutely affected the school and I finally realized that I did not want to live that way, says Erik Werkelin.

One of the leaders at the camp is the therapist Patrik Wincent who has his own experiences of gambling addiction and based on the started Dataspelsakuten which runs the camp.

- We start by removing all participants' mobile phones and other technical equipment and from there we start working with the group and the individuals. It is not a complete treatment, but we hope to be able to open the door to alternatives to gambling and give young people insights into what may be behind a compulsive and negative gambling, says Patrik Wincent.