183: Goodbye, Cruel World
- Thread starter Rob Zacny
- Start date
Very interesting article.
It really sums a lot of things up for me from my own life that I hadnt thought of in this light before. I had chronic pain since the start of high school (13 years old), which went undiagnosed until I was 19.
I played games before that as I had fun with them but it wasnt until this age bracket that I really got into them a lot more. Now I'm 23 and trying to kick my gaming addiction (well ease back from what I used to play at University - thank you WoW, Counterstrike, War3, starcraft, etc
). I would say it reached the stages of addiction or at least was a strong long, long term habit.
During this time I had pain in almost all of my joints which would come and go - but it was a near constant in my life. Looking back the pain of course is not the only reason I played games but unknown to me it probably was a major factor. Living life in pain compared to playing games, having fun and feeling less pain all in one go - what would you choose.
After being diagnosed and being given medication to deal with the pain I was already playing games a lot and this continued until I finished off my university studies (Electrical Engineering/Physics).
Now I am working and trying to cut down the amount of hours I play. I have stopped playing computer games completely and now only allow myself the PS3. My choice is to 'improve' my spare time when I'm at home so I can spend more time with my girlfriend (not a computer game fan at all and has put up with me playing it a lot).
There is no real point story but rather would like to say looking back this article is supported by my whole life these past 10 years. I never thought of it this way until now and to me it seems to fit perfectly into why I enjoyed computer games so much.
Thanks for the article. I can say in all honesty it makes every click into place perfectly from my past and present situations. (now does anyone know the easiest way to quit gaming )
It really sums a lot of things up for me from my own life that I hadnt thought of in this light before. I had chronic pain since the start of high school (13 years old), which went undiagnosed until I was 19.
I played games before that as I had fun with them but it wasnt until this age bracket that I really got into them a lot more. Now I'm 23 and trying to kick my gaming addiction (well ease back from what I used to play at University - thank you WoW, Counterstrike, War3, starcraft, etc
). I would say it reached the stages of addiction or at least was a strong long, long term habit.During this time I had pain in almost all of my joints which would come and go - but it was a near constant in my life. Looking back the pain of course is not the only reason I played games but unknown to me it probably was a major factor. Living life in pain compared to playing games, having fun and feeling less pain all in one go - what would you choose.
After being diagnosed and being given medication to deal with the pain I was already playing games a lot and this continued until I finished off my university studies (Electrical Engineering/Physics).
Now I am working and trying to cut down the amount of hours I play. I have stopped playing computer games completely and now only allow myself the PS3. My choice is to 'improve' my spare time when I'm at home so I can spend more time with my girlfriend (not a computer game fan at all and has put up with me playing it a lot).
There is no real point story but rather would like to say looking back this article is supported by my whole life these past 10 years. I never thought of it this way until now and to me it seems to fit perfectly into why I enjoyed computer games so much.
Thanks for the article. I can say in all honesty it makes every click into place perfectly from my past and present situations. (now does anyone know the easiest way to quit gaming
)
Thanks so much for that well-written story. I knew video games help me with stress, but I didn't know about so much pain reduction. I now know I need to get my daughter a PSP or DS.
I thought it was a great read and it reminded me of what had just happened to me earlier today. Being a bit of a stretch that this story will be, I'll share it.
Earlier I was playing Mirror's Edge Time Trials, attempting to get 3 stars on all of them. This is migraine inducing in its own right, but there was another pain eating away at me...literally. I was hungry. I thought to myself, put the game down, go get some food, and come back later. For some reason though, pressing "Restart Race" was so much more alluring that I completely forgot about my hunger pains and continued on playing for over another hour. This, accompanied by your article, gave me a good chuckle. Knowing that I was part of an indirect experiment on myself.
Now if only I could get my girlfriend to play more videogames...Sure she plays some, but nowhere near the recommended dosage.
Earlier I was playing Mirror's Edge Time Trials, attempting to get 3 stars on all of them. This is migraine inducing in its own right, but there was another pain eating away at me...literally. I was hungry. I thought to myself, put the game down, go get some food, and come back later. For some reason though, pressing "Restart Race" was so much more alluring that I completely forgot about my hunger pains and continued on playing for over another hour. This, accompanied by your article, gave me a good chuckle. Knowing that I was part of an indirect experiment on myself.
Now if only I could get my girlfriend to play more videogames...Sure she plays some, but nowhere near the recommended dosage.
Kudos are in order. A very entertaining, informative read. I suppose I've used gaming as a distraction from pain more often than I would've admitted had I not read this article (Post-breakup WoW binges, I'm looking at you.)
Wow, I totally agree too cause I use video games as an escape from the things bothering me in my life. Wow kind of explains why I've been playing my entire life. I had lot friends turn to drugs when life got hard for them. I even had friend lose his mind from it. Me, I always turned to video games.
that was a good read. from personal experience, Video Games did help me get through a nasty break up and the BS that followed
Nice, very interesting article - and a lot better researched than many of the 'anti-gaming' research papers you can find out there, too!
This actually clicked with me, as well, as I went through a period of my life a couple of years back wher I was massively depressed. I had just split up with my girlfriend of two years, as she was a manic depressive who had attempted suicide many times, and I couldn't deal with the emotional weight of it - I was only eighteen, after all, and due to this I was feeling constantly depressed and didn't want to do anything. I very nearly dropped out of school, only just scraped a couple of Ds on my coursework (I had previously been a straight-A student), and honestly couldn't see the point of anything.
Then one of the women that I worked with mentioned that her son had been playing Guitar Hero recently, and did I know anything about it? Being something of a musician and games nerd myself, I had been meaning to get it for a while, but never bought it. She lent me her son's version, and I immediately feel into it, playing it for hours on end pretty much daily. Suddenly, everything felt a lot... less. I was cheering up, I managed to pull my grades back up in time for exams, and generally was feeling much better about myself. Nowadays, if I ever feel low, or things are getting me down, I boot up Rock Band and play the hell out of some songs for a while and nothing affects me quite as much.
While games may not work for everyone, and you'd definitely need to find the right game for the right person, their effects as both an emotional and physical analgesic can be fantastic. This is definitely something that needs to be looked into on a grander scale.
This actually clicked with me, as well, as I went through a period of my life a couple of years back wher I was massively depressed. I had just split up with my girlfriend of two years, as she was a manic depressive who had attempted suicide many times, and I couldn't deal with the emotional weight of it - I was only eighteen, after all, and due to this I was feeling constantly depressed and didn't want to do anything. I very nearly dropped out of school, only just scraped a couple of Ds on my coursework (I had previously been a straight-A student), and honestly couldn't see the point of anything.
Then one of the women that I worked with mentioned that her son had been playing Guitar Hero recently, and did I know anything about it? Being something of a musician and games nerd myself, I had been meaning to get it for a while, but never bought it. She lent me her son's version, and I immediately feel into it, playing it for hours on end pretty much daily. Suddenly, everything felt a lot... less. I was cheering up, I managed to pull my grades back up in time for exams, and generally was feeling much better about myself. Nowadays, if I ever feel low, or things are getting me down, I boot up Rock Band and play the hell out of some songs for a while and nothing affects me quite as much.
While games may not work for everyone, and you'd definitely need to find the right game for the right person, their effects as both an emotional and physical analgesic can be fantastic. This is definitely something that needs to be looked into on a grander scale.
Nice article. Reminds me of the news piece they had here a bit ago:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88051-Snow-World-Helps-Soothe-Soldiers-Pain
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88051-Snow-World-Helps-Soothe-Soldiers-Pain
I kind of disagree with you when it comes to treatments of emotional pain. It depends on the scenario. If there is something you can do to fix whatever's causing you problems, then yeah, you need to be doing that rather than gripping a controller and delaying the resolution. But if it's something that you can't fix, like losing your mother to alzheimers, girlfriend leaving you for your best friend, etc., thinking about it is painful and pointless. You can't do anything about it, can't fight it, can't fix it, why bother thinking about it until you're nearly suicidal? Pick up that controller, and make your mind think about something else. Subconsciously,at least in my experience, you're working through the motions and grieving, but it just doesn't hurt as bad.anabbeynormality said:
My introduction might seem like it's suggesting that gaming is a treatment for emotional pain, but really I just wanted to recall that line from my friend because it's something I've thought a lot about over the years. My research interest was physical pain, how it works, and why gaming helps us deal with it.
On the other hand, my personal inclination is to agree with Unholykrumpet. It depends on the situation and I don't think any of us has the answer for dealing with emotional pain. There's a lot of different causes and types, so there's probably a lot of different ways that we can try and come to terms with it. For some people, medication is the only answer, for others it's therapy, for others it's just staying busy. Some need all three. But I think a lot of gamers will cop to using games to avoid dwelling on bad feelings.
On the other hand, my personal inclination is to agree with Unholykrumpet. It depends on the situation and I don't think any of us has the answer for dealing with emotional pain. There's a lot of different causes and types, so there's probably a lot of different ways that we can try and come to terms with it. For some people, medication is the only answer, for others it's therapy, for others it's just staying busy. Some need all three. But I think a lot of gamers will cop to using games to avoid dwelling on bad feelings.
I liked your article all in all (especially the short but precise explanation on the PAG), however there's two things I want to point out:
I?m studying medicine and ? interestingly enough ? this was one of the aspects of today?s lecture. The addictive nature of (opioid-)painkillers like morphine only matter when taken to improve a non-pathological state. A person suffering from chronic pain won?t develop an addiction. Basically, because the morphine is used to recreate a normal (pain-free) state, the psychological consequences of, say, taking heroine to heighten your mood beyond normal don?t apply. However, they can develop a physical dependancy (without the psychological aspects) that may require tapering the dosage once the need for pain-medication has vanished instead of stopping treatment altogether at once.
From what I know of palliative care, varying the medication isn?t typically necessary. There are cases when patients react paradoxically to certain opiods (like INCREASED feelings of pain), however these are rare and can be solved by switching to a different type of opiod. Of course, if the condition declines further, you might have to increase the dosage. Big problems of opioid-drugs are obstipation and nausea, both of which can (to a point) be controlled by additional medications.
"Spy sappin' my psychological effects!" Heh heh heh. Sorry.
Were videogames to replace painkillers, the people who use them would be able to perform better at work because there would be no narcotic side effects. But then again, it would take longer to get "medicated". Maybe instead of taking smoke breaks, people could take video game breaks? I would like to see that.
Were videogames to replace painkillers, the people who use them would be able to perform better at work because there would be no narcotic side effects. But then again, it would take longer to get "medicated". Maybe instead of taking smoke breaks, people could take video game breaks? I would like to see that.
Very well written. I am curious what you got knee surgery for and when, because I was surprised to see you mention it and find it ironic I just had knee surgery for football. It hurt really quite badly, and my parents found it crap that after I had played video games for say....1-3 hours it wouldn't hurt anymore.
Very cool article. I found it quite informative.
When I was a teenager I sliced my face open with a ceiling lamp (it's a pretty dumb story so I'll let y'all use your imagination.) After I got back from the hospital I ended up playing Shadowrun on the Sega Genisis for half the night and it was a welcome distraction. It would be nice to give kids games to play instead of pills to deal with pain, but it's an issue I'm torn on. A distraction is just that, a distraction. It doesn't actually help you learn to cope with pain, particularly if you have chronic pain from an injury or something. It's that fine line when between using something to help deal with the pain and using it because everything hurts without it - same as all the painkillers and psychotropics hospitals like to give away by the truckload. I'm sure this is double-true for mental pain.
When I was a teenager I sliced my face open with a ceiling lamp (it's a pretty dumb story so I'll let y'all use your imagination.) After I got back from the hospital I ended up playing Shadowrun on the Sega Genisis for half the night and it was a welcome distraction. It would be nice to give kids games to play instead of pills to deal with pain, but it's an issue I'm torn on. A distraction is just that, a distraction. It doesn't actually help you learn to cope with pain, particularly if you have chronic pain from an injury or something. It's that fine line when between using something to help deal with the pain and using it because everything hurts without it - same as all the painkillers and psychotropics hospitals like to give away by the truckload. I'm sure this is double-true for mental pain.
