“Castle Craig Hospital in Scotland, which runs rehabilitation courses for people with drug, alcohol and gambling addictions, has launched a programme after receiving requests to treat similar problems with cryptocurrency.”

“The high risk, fluctuating cryptocurrency market appeals to the problem gambler. 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."

As humans, our nature can often be dictated by risk and thrill. Often, risk can get the better of us and thus, patterns of addictive behaviour can emerge. This sort of behaviour is amplified by the potential to succeed and win, an event that causes the body to release a number of different chemicals, chemicals that can help to contribute to addiction. Without going into the chemistry and the psychology of it, addiction can be debilitating and utterly life changing. According to a report out today in The Independent (UK), a hospital in Scotland has realised that with this in mind, cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin specifically) can be catalysts for addictive behaviour and thus, have established a new Bitcoin rehabilitation programme. See the full report for yourself, here- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bitcoin-addiction-rehab-cryptocurrency-trading-castle-craig-hospital-a8373801.html According to The Independent:Moreover, according to The Independent, Chris Burn, a gambling therapist at Castle Craig hospital has said:Are cryptocurrencies leading us towards a new health crisis? This is something we can’t really be sure of. Gambling addiction is of course an epidemic, especially here in the UK. This is something that the government and health professionals are trying to combat, although sadly, there is no quick fix for this. Cryptocurrencies however are slightly different in that, hopefully, many ‘adoptable’ currencies such as Bitcoin do aim to relieve some of their volatility, one of the factors that does make them attractive to gamblers. What I am saying here is that, as cryptocurrencies become more settled, we could see this sort of gambling behaviour tail off. Many people believe that in order for cryptocurrencies to become serious, real-world currencies then we do of course need this volatility to cease, therefore, it is something that could happen eventually. This move by Castle Craig hospital does tell us one thing, foremost, this suggests that health care providers in Scotland have seen a trend here and that with the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies, comes a rise in risk and other related issues. Hopefully, this move by Castle Craig can inspire other health care areas to follow up and do the same thing, before cryptocurrency trading addiction does indeed get out of hand.