In a sign of the times, a hospital in Scotland has launched what is believed to be a world first: a residential treatment course for “crypto addicts,” those addicted to cryptocurrency trading.

The course, to be run at the West Linton facility of the Castle Craig Hospital, will use techniques found to be successful in treating gambling addictions in an effort to teach crypto addicts how to live without trading cryptocurrencies online.

“The high-risk, fluctuating cryptocurrency market appeals to the problem gambler,” Chris Burn, a gambling therapist at Castle Craig Hospital, told Sky News Monday. “It provides excitement and an escape from reality. Bitcoin, for example, has been heavily traded and huge gains and losses were made. It’s a classic bubble situation.”

The crypto addict course will run along similar lines to the gambling treatment course currently offered by the medical facility, incorporating the treatment of associated mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and sex addiction.

Therapeutic skills and tools taught include impulse control, therapeutic tools to combat negative feelings, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy problem-solving skills, relapse prevention techniques and holistic therapy aids for mind, body and spirit. Patients are also taught healthy dietary and fitness habits along with being provided “strong support networks that last a lifetime.”

Just how many people are addicted to trading cryptocurrencies is unknown. There doesn’t appear to have ever been a clinical study into crypto addiction to date. But among the crypto community, there is some awareness that it is a problem.

Vice did a short video story late last year on bitcoin addiction, while various forums within the crypto community discuss the issue as well. A member of Bitcoin Pub, a cryptocurrency forum, openly admitted that his addiction to crypto trading may be unhealthy. And various threads on Reddit openly discuss crypto addiction as well.

It’s often said that the first step for any addict is to admit you have a problem, and even if there are many addicts who never get to that stage, growing self-awareness in the crypto community is a positive step forward. There may not be a 12-step group for crypto addicts quite yet, but it may be only a matter of time.

Photo: Pxhere