The teenager rejected social interactions, refused to go to health services or leave the home, and only showed interest in the video game known as Fortnite whose registered accounts amount to 350 million people around the world, according to data from 2021.
It is the first known clinical case in the world. The minor has spent two months in a Castellón hospital to treat his addiction to video games.
Isolation, rejection of social relationships or refusal to go to the doctor were the first symptoms that sounded the alarm in the family. In a statement, the Jaume I University of Castellón, which has carried out the study of this case together with the staff who treated him at the General Hospital and the Provincial Hospital of the city, have made these data public.
After treatment, doctors have argued that video game addiction acts as a regulator of the intense discomfort caused by the loss of a family member and by the anxiety caused by the increase in the level of demand in the educational context. In this case, the minor presented a very high academic performance but, from the beginning of this course, which was changed classes, began with school absenteeism and disconnection from the course rhythm, something that professionals associate with the beginning of the alteration of his behavior, immersing himself in this video game "as a refuge from his emotional discomfort".
The WHO included video game disorder in the list of mental illnesses in 2018.
