The renowned Castle Craig Hospital in Peeblesshire, the Scottish borders, will be offering a residential treatment course for people addicted to cryptocurrency trading.
The west Linton medical facility which runs treatment programmes for drug and alcohol addiction, hopes to treat cryptocurrency addicts with techniques developed for gambling addicts.
Experts say the trading of digital currencies or assets such as Bitcoin can become a behavioral addiction, similar to online gambling with some traders obsessively following minute-by-minute fluctuations in prices.
While there are currently no figures for the number of people addicted to cryptocurrency, there is an estimated 13 million people across the world actively trading in the system.
Tony Marini, a former gambling and cocaine addict who is now a therapist will lead some treatments at the Centre. He said that introducing life structure is key for addicts.
“I see cryptocurrency trading as a way for people to escape from themselves, into another world, because they don’t like the world they’re in,” Marini said.
Speaking about the traits of a crypto addict, Chris Burn, a gambling therapist at Castle Craig Hospital, said that the high risk, fluctuating cryptocurrency market appeals to the problem gambler.
“It provides excitement and an escape from reality,” Burn said. “Bitcoin, for example, has been heavily traded and huge gains and losses were made. It’s a classic bubble situation.”
Source: https://news.bitzamp.com/scottish-hospital-to-offer-therapy-for-cryptocurrency-addicts/