Tactics For Curing The Problem
During the treatment of video games addiction, contact with games should be prohibited, so that there is no relapse. As for the mental aspect, it is important to look for ways to organize the routine with responsibilities, rest, leisure and alternative hobbies, having goals and objectives, promoting other forms of self-care and personal development, such as through meditation.
It is also important to be in person with people who contribute to your life, after all, in addition to being pleasurable, we all need a support network to deal with lifes difficulties.
In general, as a person with an advanced game addiction spent a lot of time playing and taking little care of himself, it is important that the individual takes care of himself as a whole, for example, avoiding spending many hours sitting, without eating or eating poorly. You should have moments of rest, adequate sleep, hydrate, do physical activities.
Why Your Child Is Addicted To Video Games
Game creators work hard to hook players to their games. They use predictive algorithms and principles of behavioral economics to make the gamer binge.
Games become addictive because it triggers the brains reward system, and shapes a childs behavior. Studies made by the California State University found that video games can have a similar effect on childrens brains as drug abuse or alcoholism. The impulsive part of the brain, known as the amygdala-striatal system was smaller and more sensitive in excessive users so that it processed the stimuli of games faster.
Massive multiplayer online role-playing games or MMORPGs immerse the player in real time because of the seemingly endless possibility of discovering more powerful loot or items. He is also enticed to complete events and achievements that requires a lot of gaming time.
Gamers who play games with social aspects, such as the World of Warcraft, spend the most time playing, sometimes for more than 40 hours a week even more than a full-time job. The social element makes gaming even more compulsive, and hard to quit. Social gaming satisfies the human need for being in charge, feeling competent, and feeling connected with others. Some online gamers even feel that they are duty bound to go online because others rely on them or their clan needs them for a scrim.
In many other games, the gamer works hard towards achieving a goal and quitting the game prematurely would waste everything the gamer has worked for.
Effects Of Gaming Disorder
Video game disorder can create or exacerbate other mental health issues.
Note that someone who spends days at a time playing video games may be vulnerable to depression and anxiety when they are separated from their games.
There is also the issue of video game dependence becoming linked with other problems, adding further complexity to the dependency.
Any two addictions can become paired with each other. A common example is coffee and cigarettes.
The same could certainly happen with video gaming and other behaviours.
Lets say whenever the person is playing games, theyre always eating a particular food. Theyll start to link those two things together. So the pairing can further increase the impact the disorder can have on someones life.
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Is There A Cure For Video Game Addiction
Treatment for video game addiction is similar to that for other addictions. Counseling and behavior modification are the primary means of treating addicted gamers. Together, individual and family counseling are powerful treatment tools. Some treatment facilities incorporate medication in their programs.
However, unlike drugs or alcohol, video games are tied to computers, which are a key part of life for most people. In that way, the addiction is similar to a food addiction. As a result, some treatment centers explore controlled use rather than abstinence.
No overall cure for video game addiction exists. As with alcoholism and drug addiction, the key is to enter treatment and to stay aware of triggers while continuing to participate in recovery groups, such as Online Gamers Anonymous.
Always Ask The Following Questions:
- Is this a direct line to the actual treatment program, or is this a call center which refers out my call for a fee to the treatment center?
- How long have you been treating video game addiction?
- Do you specialize in video game addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions? If so, do your other participants in the program each have a video game addiction, or do you just treat this condition using individual therapy or by a once a week group or track?
- Does your program treat people with drug and alcohol problems alongside people with video game problems? (When it comes to treating tech addiction, pairing people together with similar issues results in better outcomes.
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Signs Of A Gaming Disorder
There are several indicators you can look for to see if a teens gaming patterns show signs of addiction, according to the WHO.
- A lack of control over how often the individual engages in gaming, how intense gaming sessions are, and how long they last
- Gaming increasingly becomes a high priority
- Even after experiencing negative consequences, the gamer continues to engage in the activity, or even increases their involvement
Other experts say that there are physical indicators that gaming has become unhealthy. In these cases, the gamer exhibits signs of:
- Poor personal grooming
- Muscle strain in hands due to overuse of gaming controller or a mouse
- Fatigue, tiredness
- Headaches linked to eye strain
The ICD recommends monitoring gaming habits over the course of a year to determine if addiction treatment is necessary. Research also shows that boys spend more time gaming than girls, so are therefore likely to make up a greater number of those with behavioural disorders linked to the activity.
Dishonesty Or Hiding Their Habit
Teenagers are smart at hiding things from their parents but even they may understand that their gaming is becoming a routine habit when they start being dishonest about the time spent indulging in it. Frequently, their dishonesty gets extended to friends and peers and they start to separate themselves from others while spending more time gaming.
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The Phenomenon Of Gaming Addiction
This Page was last reviewed and changed on January 4th, 2022
Kids play games. Thats a good thing, right? Even adults need some time to relax and enjoy leisure activities that may include some sort of gaming. The problem is that some people are susceptible to gaming addiction in the same way others are susceptible to becoming dependent on alcohol. The fact of the matter is that gaming addiction is every bit as real as any other kind of addiction.
Society has thus far been slow to accept gaming addiction because we so often equate addiction with chemical substances. But when you compare the obsessive behaviours of compulsive gamers with the behaviours exhibited by drug and gambling addicts, quite a few similarities arise. Here at UKAT, we are not afraid to recognise gaming addiction for what it is.
Diagnosing Yourself For Video Game Disorder
If you are considering whether you might have a problem, trying to make an honest appraisal of your relationship with video games could be revealing.
Are you simply an enthusiast, or have you arrived at a point of dependence? Can you be comfortably separated from your gaming for days at a time, or would this be problematic?
The recognition of the disorder will hopefully allow people to engage with these kinds of questions without concerns over their validity.
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Video Game Addiction Aftercare
As part of Trafalgars video game addiction treatment program, we offer aftercare services to make sure that upon graduation of the client, any relapse will be prevented through our aftercare, ContinUCare and Continuation of Care.
Some may think that if they have made it through a video game addiction rehab program then their problems are over. Completing a video game addiction treatment program is a great accomplishment, but it is only the beginning of the recovery journey. Aftercare is especially important during the first few years of recovery.
How Much Does Rehab Cost
Rehab is not an inexpensive option while costs will vary considerably from one case to the next depending on the duration of the stay and possibly other factors, and therefore a precise figure cannot be given here, usually cost would be around £3,000 per week . Clearly this may not be appropriate for everyone.
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Addiction Begins In The Brain
The brain is the supercomputer that runs everything in your life. It plays a central role in your vulnerability to addiction and your ability to recover and maintain sobriety. Understanding the brains role in addiction, prevention, and treatment is the key to helping people break free from their addictions. Until then, they will continue to fuel their addictions with daily habits and actions that pollute the brain and make it even harder for them to break free from those addictions. One way to help identify addiction in the brain is with SPECT imaging.
Overloaded work schedules, not getting enough sleep, and living with strained relationships all can lower brain function, and make it more difficult to fight addiction. Eating a fast food diet, guzzling sugary sodas, and gobbling unhealthy snacks deprives the brain of proper nutrients, which decreases your ability to think clearly and make good decisions. Isolating yourself from family and friends to hide your addiction also has a negative effect on your brain that can further intensify your addictive behaviors.
How To Treat Gaming Addiction
There are many causes of video game addiction. In order to find the right gaming disorder treatment, it is important to identify the root cause. Why does your child spend so much time playing games?
The main reason people become addicted to online gaming is the need to achieve and succeed. Games are specifically designed for this reason. Another reason people develop online gaming addiction is the need to socialize.
Gaming disorder treatment is generally based on the underlying cause such as the need for socialization and the length of time the person has been addicted. Children who have been experiencing online gaming addiction for up to 12 months can be treated with minimal intervention, while children who have had an internet gaming disorder for longer than 12 months may need specialized guidance.
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Drugs For Video Game Addiction
There is no magic bullet pharmaceutical cure for video game addiction: as mentioned above, treatment consists of a wide variety of approaches almost universally founded upon psychotherapy. While research is ongoing into pharmaceutical approaches, any such cure will still be years off, if it is ever developed at all. However, some of the side-effects of gaming addiction especially physical health conditions which may have developed can be treated with medication. Always consult your GP before taking any such medication.
Why Do Some Video Game Addiction Treatments Fail
In addiction treatment, there is an idea that complete abstinence is the only way to beat an addiction. However, video game addiction treatment is different. Many people that used to have problematic gaming habits in the past have taken control of their lives and still enjoy playing video games.
You can become a healthy gamer and enjoy playing video games while leading a balanced life.
Gamers have a hatred of boredom. Gaming creates a steady supply of dopamine with random bursts. As a result, the brain builds a tolerance to this constant supply of dopamine.
This requires a person to generate even more dopamine by playing games to be able to have fun. Otherwise, they feel bored. When a gamer takes up complete abstinence and tries to engage in more productive activities, they misattribute the boredom from a lack of dopamine to that productive activity that they are participating in. This reinforces their aversion to doing anything other than gaming.
here to find out why video games are so addictive.
Therefore, unless you have a large amount of willpower, trying to beat video game addiction by complete abstinence is not a very effective strategy.
Here is the difference between willpower and motivation:
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What Gaming Addiction Can Do To You
As with any behavioural disorder, video game addiction has long-term effects. The lack of sleep and balanced meals that addicted gamers forgo can negatively affect their academic performance, lead to poor nutrition, and even contribute to sleep disorders, which are linked to an unhealthy amount of screen time.
There are social consequences as well. The more someone with a gaming disorder retreats into a virtual world, the weaker their relationships can become with others in real life, including their peers. As they miss opportunities to form and grow bonds, friendships can fizzle out, until the addicted individual becomes isolated. Studies show that social isolation can in turn increase the risk of depression, anxiety and even substance abuse.
Gaming is not cheap, and those who are addicted to it can require large sums of money in order to maintain access to networks, equipment, and software necessary to continue playing. In the case of teenage boys and young men living at home, it is often their parents who find themselves financially responsible for a loved ones gaming habit.
A Mix Of Mental Health Issues Involved
Problem gaming often occurs alongside other mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, and some experts argue it is a symptom of these, rather than a unique condition in its own right.
Others take issue with the idea that you can have an addiction to gaming, in the same way you can be addicted to drugs.
The American Psychiatric Association is yet to fully accept the condition in their disease manual, calling for more research to be done.
Meanwhile, a 2017 survey of psychiatrists in Australia and New Zealand found that nearly 60 per cent had already accepted gaming disorder as a distinct mental health condition although only 16.3 per cent said they felt confident in managing it.
But psychologist Wayne Warburton of Macquarie University, who studies the impact of screen technologies, argues treatment doesn’t have to wait for the current scientific arguments to settle, or indeed even for a clear diagnosis.
“If someone comes to you and their son hasn’t been out of their room for eight years, or has not been to school for two years, or is beating up his mother when she asks him to stop being on the screen then you don’t wait for a diagnosis,” Dr Warburton said.
“You look for the underlying issues and deal with those.
“For the people who become addicted to gaming, there is generally something else going on. It’s meeting some other need in their life that hasn’t been met in other ways or there’s some underlying trauma.”
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Executive Video Game Addiction Programs
Those who have hesitated to seek treatment for their gaming addictions owing to responsibilities at work might be good candidates for executive video game addiction programs. These inpatient centers offer limited access to computers and mobile phones to permit business executives to stay in touch with the office while undergoing treatment.
Gaming Addiction And Substance Abuse
It is by no means uncommon for an individual to suffer from more than one addiction or even more than one type of addiction at once, and many behavioural addictions are often found to cooccur with substance abuse disorders. This condition of cooccurrence sometimes called dual diagnosis or dual disorder typically requires specialised treatment of a more complex kind than that provided to individuals suffering from only one addiction.
Partly because video game addiction is a comparatively new phenomenon, and partly because of the aforementioned lack of unanimity regarding its diagnostic status, the extent to which those suffering from gaming addiction may be especially susceptible to substance abuse disorders has not yet been particularly well established.
Some research suggests that many gamers even those identifying as problem gamers may actually be less likely to develop substance abuse disorders as their brains reward centres are already being stimulated in a similar way to how they would be under the influence of drugs. On the other hand, it is clear that in certain cases gaming addiction has developed subsequent to the establishment of addiction to drink and/or drugs, and similarly that in other cases, it has pre-existed.
On the other hand, some gamers may turn to drugs especially stimulants such as cocaine to give them what they believe will be a performance-enhancing edge, and/or help them stay awake for longer periods during protracted gaming bouts.
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Benefits Of Residential Game Addiction Treatment
Rehab for mental disorders is closely related to that for drugs. Thus residential gaming-addiction treatment plan will borrow a lot from other similar plans that a rehab uses to treat conditions such as alcohol or cocaine addiction.
Residential treatment programs for gaming addiction works by removing a patient from their triggers. It allows them around the clock professional treatment and supervision. The benefits that such treatment programs can offer you include:
The focus is only on you Youll have ample time to concentrate on recovery, away from family, work, school, and other distractors.
It offers structure You can account for every minute you spend in for treatment. Theres an activity planned for every second of the day. Inpatient rehabs tight schedule leaves you with less free time, hence, enabling you to dedicate all your energies to recovery and forming new, healthy habits.
It can help protect your family Dealing with withdrawal symptoms can be painful for your family to watch. Residential rehab avoids a scenario where your loved ones would otherwise have to watch the roller coaster of dealing with severe withdrawal. However, approved medications can help ease the condition.
Availability of a 24/7 medical support
Removal from triggers and other negative influences Inpatient rehab allows you to sharpen your coping skills before putting them to practice.
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