201: Goodbye, Cruel World

Rob Zacny

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Jun 23, 2008
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Goodbye, Cruel World

We've all played videogames to temporarily escape from reality, but who knew that games could be an effective medical treatment for chronic pain? Rob Zacny explores the psychology of pain therapy.

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neuromasser

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Jan 20, 2009
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That's exactly what I'm trying to explain to my girlfriend :/ I hope that this article will come in handy next time we get in argument
 

Nivag the Owl

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Oct 29, 2008
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So glad you decided to add this to the 'Best of'. It's always been my favourite article :D
 

Kstreitenfeld

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Mar 27, 2009
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To bad the last time I was in great pain my whole right hand (my primary hand) was in a great big cast so I couldn't play anything :(
 

CapitalDave

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Apr 29, 2009
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Very Interesting article, enjoyed reading it a lot.
I'd love to see some references to the studies on using VR as painkillers if they're available.
 

MorkFromOrk

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Sep 9, 2007
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Video games are at their core are just another form of stimuli. If we accept the statement "energy flows where the mind goes" then we see that by focusing on physical or emotional pain it can be exacerbated, by focusing our thoughts away from the pain we can alleviate it to lesser or larger extent. More than that various stimuli, including video games, can open our minds to fresh points of view that can make coping with painful situations much easier.

Of course, in so far as video games are concerned, the cure can be more poisonous than the disease. Getting "T-Bagged" by some guy in an online Halo 3 match, being constantly bullied by a bunch of players in an MMO, or the sheer frustration of playing any Ninja Gaiden game, is enough to make a person's pain go from bad to devastating.

Too as beneficial as playing a game like Flower on the PS3 could be it still doesn't compare to actually being out in a real meadow, amongst real flowers and a cool breeze blowing across your face.
 

conanthegamer

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Sep 19, 2008
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I suffer back pain and fybromyalgia. I told the doctor that when I play games I noticed I was in less pain. And she looked at me like I was an idiot. So this article is a kind of vindication. Although she probably will never read this.
 

Kuliani

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Dec 14, 2004
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conanthegamer said:
I suffer back pain and fybromyalgia. I told the doctor that when I play games I noticed I was in less pain. And she looked at me like I was an idiot. So this article is a kind of vindication. Although she probably will never read this.
Print out, fax, or email the article to her. Most doctors don't have much free time to look up something they aren't already familiar with, but they do have time if someone is able to directly give them the material to read.

Then again, perhaps she already knows about such things, and the look was one of frustration that she's unable to prescribe video games (not thinking you were an idiot). :)
 

TehBabaganoosh

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Dec 28, 2008
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Interesting stuff. When I went through a fairly major bout of depression, gaming was the only effective anti-depressant I could find.
 

kastanok

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Mar 20, 2009
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Knew this one was familiar, didn't realise it was a Best Of issue till I read the comments, though. Bad me. *Goes to read editor's notes*

Anyway, great article. I've used games for escapism and distracting myself from emotional and physical pain for many, many, many years.