Do you play games on the internet? Most of us do. We might even have heard people jokingly saying they are addicted to playing games. But how many people know that it is a possibility? Video game addiction is a proposed mental health condition that actually exists. Parents seeking gaming addiction treatment for their children are becoming less of a rare occurrence.
Overview Gaming Addiction
Also referred to as video game addiction or internet gaming disorder, gaming addiction is considered as a psychological addiction in which the individual has severely reduced ability to control the urge to play and it in turn causes major issues in their normal functioning. People from different age groups including kids, adolescents, adults, can be at risk of this disorder. Similar to other addictions like alcohol and substance abuse, the main features of gaming addiction also include strong desire, inability to control, dependance, withdrawal symptoms, and of course, noticeable problems in other important areas of life. Even though the World Health Organisation have acknowledged gaming addiction officially as internet gaming disorder, DSM-5 does not have provisions for such a diagnosis and is a proposed condition.
How do you know it is an addiction? What are the symptoms?
A large number of people play games- on or off the internet. But not everyone develops an addiction. When does your gaming turn to a problematic condition that needs professional attention? With the following symptoms:
- Strong desire and preoccupation: Do you always feel the need to play? Thinking or ‘itching’ to play whenever you are not?
- Importance: Do you often find yourself giving more importance to gaming than any other tasks, duties or responsibilities in your life?
- Loss of control: Have you ever felt like you wanted to reduce the amount of playing or stop playing, but cannot?
- Tolerance: Do you find yourself needing more time to play, seeking more interesting games to get the same level of excitement as time goes on?
- Withdrawal: When you are unable to play or try to reduce the gaming, do you feel restless, sad, anxious, moody, irritable or any other negative emotions?
- Impairment in other areas of functioning: Is the compulsive gaming habit making your functioning inadequate in other personal, social, occupational/educational settings?
- Continuing despite negative outcomes: Do you find yourself playing even after you realise the negative consequences it is having on you like loss of sleep, problems in interpersonal relationships, having issues in performing your duties punctually etc?
If your answer to most of these questions are ‘yes’, it might be warranting an appointment with a professional and to get appropriate gaming addiction treatment.
But what are the causes?
As mentioned earlier, everyone who plays so much doesn’t develop an addiction. There are certain risk factors that contribute to the chances of an individual developing this problem. What are all the factors that can lead a person to the possibility of developing internet gaming disorder or video game addiction?
- Dopamine problems
- Genetic factors
- Gaming as an escape from real-life problems
- Sense of belonging that many online games and gamer communities provides
- Age. Younger people tend to be more likely to get addicted than older people.
- Personality and psychological factors like impulsivity, low self-esteem, ADHD, low self-control etc
- Underlying mental health problems
How can I treat it?
Just like it is with other behavioural and psychological addictions, video game addiction treatment also is dealt by professionals, mostly clinical psychologists by means of psychotherapy. Let’s see some common techniques used in gaming addiction treatment:
- Psychotherapy: It is a technique of talk therapy that involves the treatment or management of psychological problems and illnesses by changing maladaptive thoughts, feelings or behaviors that are problematic. CBT is one of the most commonly used techniques for gaming addiction treatment.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Also called CBT tries to identify thoughts and thought patterns behind undesirable behaviors in order to challenge and change them to positive or adaptive thought processes. Thereby, making desired change in behavior as well.
- Residential rehabilitation programs: In which the treatment would involve planned interventions and routines with continuous care and support that aim to distance the individual from the problematic behaviour and cultivate healthy habits instead.
- Mindfulness meditation and similar practices are also sometimes used in gaming addiction treatment.
Apart from therapies, gaming addiction treatment mainly focuses on impulse control and planned restrictions to slowly but surely reduce the addiction and bring improvements to all areas of daily life which were negatively affected due to the addiction.
Why CoachForMind?
- Experienced Psychologists: We are a team of licensed RCI-registered clinical psychologists. Our team is well-experienced in various forms of therapy such as CBT, DBT, Narrative Therapy, and other therapeutic techniques used for gaming addiction treatment.
- Personalized Approach: We are dedicated to treating our clients in the best-suited way, carefully curated as per the client’s needs, and adhering to one-on-one, client-centered therapy.
- Scientific Techniques: Our treatment plans and therapeutic methods are based on highly researched scientific findings such as CBT, DBT, and Narrative Therapy among many other therapeutic techniques used in Gaming Addiction Treatment.
- Quality service: We at CoachForMind ensure quality services in our treatment regime and therapeutic approaches. Our clients hold most value to us, so we ground our techniques in empathy while maintaining professionalism.
For more information, please visit our website or contact us directly at coachformind@gmail.com
