We’ve gotten wind about this spreading sickness from China and Korea, but it’s not the bird flu and/or SARS! Nope, here’s an article on a soon-to-be American cultural phenomenon (once it hits the Today Show, Time, Newsweek, etc): World of Warcraft addiction.

Massively multiplayer addiction is a real phenomenon, and it’s one that’s being taken increasingly seriously by medical professionals. Facilities are being set up to combat it all over the world: Washington, Bejing, and most famously at the Smith & Jones addiction consultancy in the Netherlands. Smith & Jones compares the symptoms of MMO withdrawal to those characteristic of chemical dependence, and offers a detox program followed up with a series of real-life activities intended to replace the excitement of playing MMOs with equally engaging experiences that don’t require 60-hour-a-week commitments.

Closer to home, more traditional avenues of support are available to those who feel their MMO habits are getting the better of them. Maressa Hecht Orzack, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and Director of the Computer Addiction Study Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, hears from six or seven people a day seeking treatment for gaming addictions. “Look at the fact that World of Warcraft now has eight million people playing it. Even if there are just five or 10 percent who can’t stop, that’s a large percentage, and I hear from a lot of them.”

I’d make snarky fun of this whole thing, but I went almost completely cold turkey off video games a year or so ago because they were eating up too much of my time…and I didn’t even play them THAT much. So, I’m not sure how I feel about this except that it might say something sad about the need some people have for a constant escape from reality. Anyway, what about you guys?

Spread the word!