London, Oct 05: Too much text messaging? You may need professional help. More and more people are succumbing to so called "technology addictions," spending hours tapping on mobile phones or surfing the Internet, one of Britain's best known psychiatric clinics said on Saturday.

"There has been a huge rise in behavioral addictions," including excessive texting, said a spokeswoman for the Priory Clinic which treats 6,000 patients a year for a range of addictions including gambling, eating disorders and drugs.
In the Sunday Telegraph newspaper the head of the clinic's addictions unit said some patients were spending up to seven hours a day text messaging.

"We have a situation where some people look down on alcoholics and cocaine addicts, but then go and spend five hours in an Internet chat room," Dr Mark Collins told the paper. Bureau Report