A mum is campaigning to have her child diagnosed with an addiction to video games as she claims that his life is being ruined.
Kendal Parmar is attempting to have the NHS recognise internet gaming as an addiction in order for her son to receive treatment.
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Her son, who is 15, was once a talented sports player and a gifted student, but now plays games compulsively and hasn't attended school for a year.
"Every moment he's awake, he wants to be on a game. There is no outside world. It has become all-consuming," she told the Telegraph.
"The biggest effect on our family is the isolation from us all. He is estranged within our own house. We have lost him... although we know he is in there."
"It's heartbreaking to see him and his life being wasted away. His life is only online now, he has no friends - he was incredibly popular - so everything has reduced to being an online version of him, there's no offline version of him."
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Currently, Parmar would be forced to pay £350 ($468) a session for a private therapist, but should she be successful in her campaign, she would receive the care for free on the NHS.
Speaking to ITV News, she said: "He's not engaged with anything - he just continually wants to play the game that he's into and that's Fortnite at the moment.
"It's even too much of a hassle to talk, to walk and even engage with any of his family. We have all lost him."
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She has attempted to take his consoles away, but he finds ways around her restrictions and sometimes becomes aggressive when he is not allowed to game online.
"For a parent or young person trying to get help through the health service now, our models there are still rooted in the last century," said Dr Richard Graham, who founded one of the first technology addiction treatment centres in the UK, to ITV News.
"There are people suffering now that are not getting the services they need. This is slowly becoming a public health issue. We have seen concerns in the US and I think it's starting to happen here too.
"We just can't wait - we have to get on to this now."
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The World Health Organisation considers playing video games on the internet as a mental health disorder, but it is not currently recognised as such by the NHS.
Featured Image Credit: PA