Internet Gaming Disorder Treatment For Teens From Michigan

Looking for Internet Gaming Disorder Treatment Centers in Michigan?

Our program is located in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and serves teens from Michigan, in addition to teens from across the US.  While the length of help varies, we do not believe that substantial change can be achieved in a few short weeks.  Campers typically attend our Internet Gaming Disorder Treatment Center for a school semester or longer. 

Our focus is to help young people learn how to live in tandem with video games, cell phones (smartphones), and other digital devices so that they can be successful with life beyond high school.  Internet gaming œaddiction and excessive use of screen time technologies is a behavioral problem that has been classified and explained in numerous ways.

According to one researcher (Griffiths, 2005) biopsychosocial processes lead to the development of addiction which includes several components.  Here are the common issues we see at Camp Pocono Trails:

  • The behavior is salient (the individual is preoccupied with gaming, TV, social media, or related screen activities).
  • The individual uses the behavior in order to modify their mood (ie, gaming is used to escape reality or create the feeling of euphoria).
  • Tolerance develops (the individual needs increasingly more time to feel the same effect).
    Withdrawal symptoms occur upon discontinuation of the behavior (the individual feels anxious, depressed, and irritable if they are prevented from playing).
  • Interpersonal and intrapersonal conflict develops as a consequence of the behavior (the individual has problems with their relationship, job, and hobbies, and lack of success in abstinence).

Gaming Disorder help from Camp Pocono Trails will address all of these issues and more.  Our licensed clinical staff attend regular team meetings with our academic staff, milieu staff, and recreation staff.  We are a summer camp fully focused on video game and screen overuse issues. If your teen from Michigan has any of the above symptoms, please reach out to us today.

We Help Michigan Families Learn How To Provide Structure for Internet Addiction

It™s much easier to develop new habits if the environment is conducive to change.  At our Gaming Disorder Treatment Center, we start out by providing a technology-free environment and slowly reintroduce campers to smartphones and the internet.  We work on social skills, anger management, and developing structure before the technology is reintroduced.

We also provide a family component to set the child up for success.  Parents participate in family therapy sessions with your child’s assigned counselor while at Camp Pocono Trails.  We also teach parents how to best support their child at home.

While not the primary focus of the program, we can teach parents how to set controls to limit game time.  Parents need to be careful to avoid a limiting-only approach. Limiting game time needs to be done in conjunction with developing the motivation to pursue other activities as well.

We help Michigan families prepare the home for the student’s transition back.  Ensuring your child’s success back at home and for life after their teen years is our top priority.

Video Game Disorder: First Steps for Michigan Families.

The first step for Michigan families is to sit down with your teenager and discuss your concerns. Don’t criticize or blame.  Simply express your concern and create a dialog about the topic. A teen will more likely change if the influence is positive and supportive versus critical in nature.  Treatment for video game disorder starts with building empathy with the child and expressing genuine concern. 

Agreeing on limits is a great next step to help Michigan families that have a teen experiencing video game disorder.  It™s important for the teen to understand the reason for the limits, however. Have the teen write up a contract with your input that outlines when they can have screen time, and begin the contract with a statement of purpose.

It’s very easy for parents of teens to fall into the habit of nagging.  Nagging is the knee-jerk response to seeing a behavior you don™t like. But teens, in general, don™t respond well to nagging.  Also, as we all know, as soon as the nagging stops, the teen’s behavior resumes.

A better approach is to acknowledge the issue and let the teen know you are there to talk about it when they are ready.  Remember: the goal of changing technology overuse behaviors is not to police the teen into submission. The goal is to build intrinsic motivation- that is, to develop sufficient insight to where they see technology overuse is affecting their lives in a negative way, and the child, therefore, wants to limit their online recreational activity.

Michigan Teens Can Find Success at Our Gaming Disorder Treatment Center

Michigan teens often struggle with internet gaming disorder.  This can lead to depression, being bullied, and having a hard time making friends.  Part of our help process is catching campers back up on social skills they may have missed out on due to excessive gaming.

Finding success also means building motivation to pursue meaningful life pursuits.  Building motivation is fun! We use systematic self-monitoring techniques to guide campers to better habits that also builds motivation.  Systematic self-monitoring is just a fancy term for carefully planning your daily behaviors, in addition to setting up support plans to ensure planned behaviors are executed.

Campers set themselves up for college success or life beyond high school by building the life skills they need to be successful on their own.

Who does Camp Pocono Trails help?

Camp Pocono Trails helps teens struggling with issues similar to those below:
– Trauma
– Low Self Esteem
– Autism Spectrum
– Social isolation
– Family Conflict
– Social Issues
– School Refusal
– Video game addiction
– Anxiety
– ADHD
– Technology Addiction
– Depression
– Addictive Behaviors
– Poor Communication Skills
– Impulse Control
– Social Anxiety Disorder

Resources

Internet Gaming Disorder Resource: Steam Accounts

Many gamers that come to our Gaming Disorder Treatment Center use a Steam account to manage their game settings.  Here is a comprehensive guide for parents to manage your child’s Steam account.

Steam: Setting up Family View

We encourage you to create a Steam account with your child. If there are features of Steam that you would like to exclude from the experience, you can restrict access using Family View. You may also choose to enable Family View on your own Steam account if you would rather they share your Steam Account.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5149-EOPC-9918


To enable Family View:

  • Log into the Steam account your child will use.
  • Click the Steam menu in the top menu bar.
  • Open the Settings option.
  • Go to the “Family” tab on the left side of the window that opens.
  • Click œFamily View to start the Family View wizard.
  • Step through the wizard to select the content and features you™d like to be accessible while in PIN-protected Family View.
  • Select and confirm your new PIN.

With any gaming company, we recommend you check game ratings and actually have your child demonstrate the game before allowing any unsupervised play.  You can also go on Youtube to watch a game œwalk through to see how violence and adult themes are portrayed.

Internet Gaming Disorder Resource: Playstation Controls

If we simply take the strategy of putting external controls on gaming or internet-connected devices, we have done nothing to develop the child’s ability to self-regulate their gaming or browsing behavior independently.  

However, if you need to put up some structure now, here is a guide for setting up Playstation spending limits and gaming times:

How to set parental controls and spending limits on PS4: https://www.playstation.com/en-au/get-help/help-library/my-account/parental-controls/ps4-parental-controls/

By creating a sub account for your child you can prevent them from accessing PlayStation Store content that is unsuitable for their age, user generated content and online gameplay. You can also stop your associated sub account from making purchases without your consent.  At our Gaming Disorder Treatment Center, parents learn how to monitor their student’s online activities.

In this article you can learn about the parental controls available on PlayStation products: https://www.playstation.com/en-au/get-help/help-library/my-account/parental-controls/age-ratings-and-parental-controls/

Camp Pocono Trails helps families from Michigan

Camp Pocono Trails helps Michigan families from cities and towns like Franklin Grosse Pointe Shores Orchard Lake Birmingham Bloomfield Hills Bingham Farms Oakland Northville Township Beverly Hills East Grand Rapids