Sports betting, computer and social media addiction are serious threats to the mental health of Ghanaians, a Consultant Psychiatrist with the Ho Teaching Hospital in the Volta region, Dr Eugene Dordoye, has disclosed.
He has called for the three forms of screen addiction to be addressed due to its ascendency and ramifications among the citizenry.
At a mental health advocacy workshop organised by MindFreedom Ghana, the psychologist told journalists on the sidelines that rather than adopting gambling as a game, people who indulge in it see it as an investment that should yield them returns.
“The most common forms of screen addiction now is social media addiction and gambling or betting. That is also another challenge and another form of screen addiction because people use money hoping to win. People even think they are working when they are betting. They forget that the name of it is adult games. So betting is a game and not a way to make money, not an investment,” he noted.
He did not exempt the interest of the youth in Forex trade, which is gradually becoming an addiction in the country as a form of the screen addiction which must also be curtailed.
“All these are gambling, but young people are into it thinking they will make money out of it. Unfortunately, it is one of the avenues we are wasting the brawn and brain potential of our young people,” he stated.
Dr Dordoye wants public advocacy to be intensified on these addictions and their consequences and also provide reformation for those already bearing the consequences.
“These things are known, the challenge is the political will and the financial muscle to put these thoughts and ideas into action, that is where our biggest challenge has been”, he lamented.
He also indicated that drug addiction, which includes alcohol and substance abuse, health workers, and sickle cell patients abusing prescription drugs are on the rise, describing it as a worrying incident to public health.
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