Parents are bringing their kids to shrinks because they fear they are addicted to drugs when they are actually just gamers.

A doctor at Children’s Hospital Boston Michael Rich says that parents believe that their kids might be hooked on crack because they are showing the same symptoms. However it turns out that they just play games too much. He said that climbing levels in games like World of Warcraft, where unlimited numbers of role-playing competitors play around the clock and around the world, can be habit-forming and disruptive for both adolescents and adults.

The comments are part of a debate that is raging in the US at the moment about whether Internet addiction exists. Some quacks, eager to make a name for themselves say that since Internet addiction has the same symptoms as drug use it should be treated in the same way. Others point out that an Internet user does not die when they unplug from the world wide wibble.

There have been a small number of reported deaths attributed to Internet addiction in Asia, but these have been usually sleep and food deprivation playing the games rather than going cold turkey when you stop, However Internet addiction is fast becoming the latest fad illness with a Stanford telephone survey of US adults claiming that 1 in 8 people consider themselves addicted.