Book a GP appointment and describe the consequence, not the phone: the sleep, the mood, the concentration. That is the door that opens. Alongside it, Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous names phone use explicitly and meets free online most days, and SMART Recovery UK runs free groups on cognitive behavioural methods. There is no NHS service for phone use itself.
What to say to a GP
You will not be referred for phone use, because there is nothing to refer you to. That does not make the appointment a waste, it makes the framing the whole job.
Lead with the thing a GP can act on:
- "I am sleeping badly. I am on my phone until one or two most nights."
- "My mood has been low for a couple of months."
- "I cannot concentrate at work and it is getting worse."
- "I feel anxious when I am away from my phone."
Then add the behaviour as context rather than as the headline. "I think it is tied to how much I am on my phone, and I have tried to cut down several times."
Bring one piece of evidence. Your bedtime over the last fortnight is the best single thing, because it is concrete and it is the part with real research behind it. If you have not looked at your own data yet, [reading it properly takes ten minutes](/guides/phone_screen/how-much-are-you-actually-on-your-phone).
Ask three questions before you leave. What talking therapy is available locally, how long is the wait, and whether you can refer yourself rather than waiting for a referral.
Why they will not give you a diagnosis
Not because your problem is too small.
The American Psychiatric Association is explicit that its proposed research condition for gaming ["is limited to gaming and does not include problems with general use of the internet, online gambling, or use of social media or smartphones"](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/internet-gaming), and that ["Gambling disorder is the only behavioral addiction (as opposed to chemical substance use disorders) identified in DSM-5-TR"](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/internet-gaming).
So there is no threshold to cross and no test to fail. The practical consequence is that everything below is organised around consequences rather than labels, and that is also how to talk about it with a professional.
The honest map of what exists
| Where | What it is | How to get there | |---|---|---| | GP, or self-referral to NHS talking therapies | The route to help with sleep, mood, anxiety and concentration | Days to weeks | | Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous | Peer fellowship that names phone use directly, free, mostly online | Today | | SMART Recovery UK | Free groups using cognitive behavioural tools, no religious content | This week | | Private therapy | Available quickly if you can pay. No clinical guideline covers this specifically | This week, at a cost | | An NHS service for phone use | Does not exist | Not available |
That last row is the one nobody writes down, and knowing it in advance saves you a fortnight.
Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous
The only fellowship that names your problem in its own words. Their opening line lists ["social media addiction, phone addiction, video addiction, television addiction, gaming addiction, news addiction..."](https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/) among what people come to them with.
Meetings are free and open to anyone who thinks they have a problem with compulsive internet use. Most are online, most days, so there is usually one starting within a few hours whatever time you are reading this. In the UK there are also in-person groups in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Oxford.
It is a twelve step fellowship, which suits some people and not others. You do not have to speak, and going once to listen is an ordinary thing to do. One meeting is enough to know whether the format is for you.
SMART Recovery UK
[SMART Recovery UK](https://smartrecovery.org.uk/faqs/) runs free groups built on cognitive behavioural methods, with no higher power and no religious content. The tools are practical: motivation, coping with urges, examining the thoughts that precede a behaviour, and building a life that does not need it.
Expect to be slightly the odd one out. Their published list of what people come with names gambling, food, shopping and gaming rather than phone use. In practice the tools are about urges rather than about any particular substance, and nobody in the room will be confused by yours.
Private therapy, and what to ask
You can see a therapist this week if you can pay. What you cannot get is one working from a guideline, because NICE has no guidance on screen use or social media, and its only behavioural addiction guideline is for gambling in adults.
So ask a direct question when you first speak to someone: what do you actually do with a person who cannot stay off their phone? A good answer talks about the moments, the avoidance, the sleep, and what the phone is standing in front of. A weak answer promises to treat an addiction that no manual defines.
Check they are registered with a recognised professional body, and be wary of fixed-price programmes that claim to cure a condition nobody can diagnose.
The clinic that exists, and who it is for
There is one NHS service in this territory. The National Centre for Gaming Disorders offers ["support for people in England aged 13 and over"](https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/national-centre-gaming-disorders), accepts self-referrals as well as referrals from family and professionals, and provides cognitive behavioural therapy focused on controlled levels of gaming and increasing other activities.
Read the name. It is for gaming, which is the one digital behaviour with a recognised condition behind it, and it will not take a referral for phone use. If gaming is genuinely a large part of your picture, it is a real route.
Help that is not a service
Most of what works for people here is not clinical, and it deserves to be listed properly rather than as an afterthought.
**One person who knows.** Not an audience, and not a public declaration. One friend who asks on Thursday.
**Somebody holding the override.** A screen time passcode set and kept by another person is the cheapest external friction there is. Its weakness is that people who love you say yes at eleven at night, so choose someone who enjoys saying no. If you want a block that does not depend on a person answering, [Shield](/shield) is the part of Renovyn that holds it across devices with a delay before it lifts.
**Something at a fixed time with other people in it.** A class, a team, a group, a weekly meeting. It fills the exact hours the phone was taking, which no setting can do.
If you have not yet made the mechanical changes, they are worth doing while you wait for an appointment. [The four with the most evidence behind them](/guides/phone_screen/how-to-stop-picking-up-your-phone) take about twenty minutes.
If it is heavier than a habit
Some of what gets called a phone problem is a mood or anxiety problem with a phone attached. The tell is that the feeling was there before you picked it up and is still there after a fortnight of changes.
That belongs with a person. In the UK, Samaritans is on 116 123, free, at any hour, for anyone in distress. For urgent mental health support, NHS 111 and press option 2. If it is steadier than that, a GP appointment is the right start, and worth booking before another month of willpower.
Common questions
**Can I get NHS treatment for phone addiction?** Not for phone use itself, and there is no NICE guideline covering it. The NHS has one service in this area and it is for gaming. What you can get help with is the sleep, mood, anxiety or concentration underneath, which is usually the more useful conversation.
**What should I actually say to my GP?** Lead with the consequence rather than the label: the sleep, the low mood, the concentration. Mention the phone as context and bring one concrete piece of evidence, such as your bedtimes over the last fortnight.
**Is there a therapy that works for this?** There is no guideline and no trial base specific to phone use. Cognitive behavioural approaches are what both SMART Recovery and the NHS gaming service use for related behaviours, and a therapist working on the moments and what sits underneath them is a reasonable bet.
**Are there free meetings in the UK?** Yes. Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous runs free meetings, mostly online and daily, with in-person groups in several UK cities. SMART Recovery UK groups are also free. Neither requires you to speak or to call yourself anything.
Sources
- [Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous](https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/). The behaviours the fellowship names, including phone addiction, and their free meetings.
- [SMART Recovery UK, FAQs](https://smartrecovery.org.uk/faqs/). Free groups, cognitive behavioural methods, no religious content, and the behaviours they list.
- [National Centre for Gaming Disorders, CNWL](https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/national-centre-gaming-disorders). Support for people in England aged 13 and over, self-referrals, and cognitive behavioural therapy focused on controlled gaming.
- [American Psychiatric Association, Internet Gaming](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/internet-gaming). The proposed gaming condition excluding smartphone use, and gambling disorder as the only behavioural addiction in DSM-5-TR.
