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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Raisinb on June 3, 2012, at 15:44:01
I've been reading a book called Reality is Broken, by Jane McGonigal, in which she indirectly suggests that our rising rates of depression are partly due to a lack of engagement and sense of success in the real world, the kind of things video games give us. This really interests me as I play a lot of games primarily because it's intensely therapeutic. Anyone else?
Posted by sleepygirl2 on June 3, 2012, at 18:42:34
In reply to Does anyone play video games to help mood?, posted by Raisinb on June 3, 2012, at 15:44:01
I play the apps on my phone. Other than tetris, I haven't been much into video games.
I think I the word games best.
Posted by Willful on June 4, 2012, at 10:56:50
In reply to Does anyone play video games to help mood?, posted by Raisinb on June 3, 2012, at 15:44:01
I played Second Life, which isn't a game so much as a platform for conversation and getting to know some people a little in a vitual reality world interface. At times, it's been something I did for hours, and it was intensely helpful for anxiety, loneliness, and general sense of emptiness.
I dont' know that I felt that it make me more depressed, but maybe playing a more conventional game would have. I looked briefly at World of Warfare, but I just think the amount of time I would put into it would defeat that purpose--and you always are striving to achieve a new goal, I guess, so I would reexperience a lot of hope/disappointment about achieving goals. In SL, to the contrary, you can at least develop some social skills-- without it's being goal-oriented, or hooking you into competitive activities.
Which games do you play?
Posted by Raisinb on June 4, 2012, at 16:41:07
In reply to Re: Does anyone play video games to help mood?, posted by Willful on June 4, 2012, at 10:56:50
Hi willful,
I'm an open world RPG gamer--fallout, Skyrim, and dark souls are some I'm currently working on.
Posted by Dinah on June 9, 2012, at 20:28:07
In reply to Does anyone play video games to help mood?, posted by Raisinb on June 3, 2012, at 15:44:01
Not in the sense you are talking about. I play simple mindless video games to calm myself through some sort of self hypnosis.
Posted by herpills on September 2, 2012, at 10:29:17
In reply to Does anyone play video games to help mood?, posted by Raisinb on June 3, 2012, at 15:44:01
Great question! I've always loved video games going back to when I got my Commodore 64. I think they can be therapeutic, as long as it doesn't consume your life and become an addiction. I think it can boost mood, there's something going on with the dopamine I believe. But I have to be careful, if I'm depressed and I start to spend more time on the games, I feel like I am using it as a "distraction" from how I feel and then I don't really end up working through it to feel better I just keep distracting myself...herpills
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