A mum has posted a request on the UK’s leading local services marketplace, looking for a hypnotist to cure her son’s Fortnite addiction. The mum says she realised her son has an unhealthy obsession with the game over the October half-term, and despite all her efforts she cannot deter him from playing it every day. She goes on to say that her friend hired a hypnotist to help her quit smoking and hopes the same method will work for her son.
A job request has appeared on the UK’s leading online local services marketplace looking for a hypnotist to hypnotise an 11-year-old boy to cure his addiction to popular game Fortnite. The mum says that her son played it all day, everyday during the October half-term, and she fears his education, health, and social life are suffering.
People interested in applying for the role can view the full job advert here: https://www.bark.com/blog/mum-searching-for-hypnotist-to-cure-sons-fortnite-addiction/
The mum of one posted her request on Bark.com on Sunday 28th October, after she failed to get her son to stop playing the game during the recent half-term break. The advert states that she’s tried turning his game console off, confiscated it, change the Wi-Fi password multiple times, and grounded him, however she is a working single parent and struggles to deal with the tantrums that follow.
The woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, says her friend successfully quit smoking through hypnotherapy sessions, and is willing to try this method with her son and his ‘unhealthy obsession with Fortnite’. She goes on to say that she’s confident he has a serious problem, because she’s caught him playing it in the middle of the night, and it’s ‘all he can think and talk about’. When he’s not playing the game, he is ‘sulky and miserable’.
She goes on to say when his behaviour started to change less than a year ago, she consulted with her GP, who was very ‘dismissive and unconcerned’. The mother says that her son has agreed to be hypnotised after they ‘came to blows’ on Sunday and he admitted he feels an uncontrollable compulsion to play the game. She ends the job request by saying she is at the point of being very worried for his health and education.
The hypnotist who takes the job will need to be CRB checked, have previous experience working with children and addiction, and a recognised counselling qualification, as per the mother’s request.
At the start of 2018, gaming addiction was recognised as a mental health condition by the World Health Organisation. The NHS started a pilot programme in September to treat 15 children with gaming addiction, with the aim of creating a model for diagnosis and treatment*.
Bark.com is a site where members of the public can find and connect with local service professionals. Service sectors include; plumbing, photography, personal training, building, cleaning, catering and counselling, as well as an array of other professions. Bark.com’s goal is to revolutionise how people find and sell local services online.
Bark.com co-founder, Kai Feller said,
“This request is actually quite sad, you can tell how stressed the mother is and how she’s at the end of her tether. Gaming addiction has garnered a lot of attention this year. In fact, our own research over the summer showed that more than 1,500 parents in the UK had sought gaming addiction counselling for their kids in the last year**.
“It’s important that our health system has a treatment plan in place for children with gaming addiction, so they and their families don’t have to suffer long-term. Until that service is widely available, alternatives like hypnotherapy might be the best option, especially in cases like this where the mother feels her GP isn’t taking her seriously. I hope she finds the right professional for her son and gets the right help.”
