Looking for Gaming Addiction Help in Minnesota?

Our program is located in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and serves teens from Minnesota, 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 therapy sessions.  Campers typically undergo video game disorder help for two weeks or longer. 

The diagnostic criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder include repetitive use of Internet-based games, often with other players, that leads to significant issues with functioning.  Video game disorder help may be needed if five of the following criteria are met within one year:

  • Preoccupation or obsession with Internet games.
  • Withdrawal symptoms when not playing Internet games.
  • A build-up of tolerance“more time needs to be spent playing the games.
  • The person has tried to stop or curb playing Internet games but has failed to do so.
  • The person has had a loss of interest in other life activities, such as hobbies.
  • A person has had continued overuse of Internet games even with the knowledge of how much they impact a person™s life.
  • The person lied to others about his or her Internet game usage.
  • The person uses Internet games to relieve anxiety or guilt, it’s a way to escape.
  • The person has lost or put at risk and opportunity or relationship because of Internet games.

Video game disorder help at our Pennsylvania summer camp on 350 private acres covers all of these issues and more.  Campers participate in both group and individual therapy to develop new habits and work on life skills. If your teen from Minnesota has any of the above symptoms, please reach out to us today.

We Help Minnesota Teens Needing Gaming Addiction Help

Our Pennsylvania-based video game disorder help center is highly structured. It™s much easier to develop new habits if the environment is conducive to change.  At Camp Pocono Trails, 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 their child’s assigned counselor while at Camp Pocono Trails.  We also teach parents how to best support their children at home.

Gaming Addiction Help: Individual Therapy for Minnesota Teens

At Camp Pocono Trails, we support individual therapy.  We can work in tandem with therapists back home in Minnesota to ensure smooth continuity of care from our Pennsylvania summer camp on 350 private acres.  We also recommend our families engage in family therapy sessions while your child is in attendance. This is done during workshop weekends.

Sometimes individual outpatient therapy does not work because the teen is not honest or realistic about their issues. Many people have shame and anxiety about discussing their most problematic behaviors or thoughts and only share part of the story with their therapist. For example, a teen complains about not being able to sustain friendships in therapy, yet they don’t reveal to the therapist they were invited to a birthday party but did not go in order to stay home and play video games instead.  For this individual, outpatient therapy is unlikely to succeed at accomplishing the initially stated goal.

Also, sometimes a teen just needs a higher level of help than outpatient therapy can provide.  Or the teen may be unwilling to attend therapy sessions. For outpatient therapy to be effective, the student needs to engage with the therapist.  For example, most behavioral therapists have the student journal or track behaviors in order to change behaviors.

If a student is unwilling to do these most basic components of help, parents should look at going up to the next level of intervention.  This can be a help center like Camp Pocono Trails which specializes in video game disorder help.

Minnesota Teens Can Find Success at Our Gaming Addiction Help Center

Minnesota teens often struggle with video game disorder, which leads them to our Pennsylvania-based facility.  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 build 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:
– Social Issues
– Video game addiction
– Social Anxiety Disorder
– Social isolation
– Autism Spectrum
– Technology Addiction
– Anxiety
– Low Self Esteem
– Poor Communication Skills
– Family Conflict
– Addictive Behaviors
– Trauma
– Depression
– ADHD
– School Refusal
– Impulse Control

Resources

Set Up Your Playstation For a Teen with Video Game Disorder

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.

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/

Gaming Addiction Help: TechAddiction.com as a Resource

TechAddiction is committed to providing helpful, informative, and high quality links to services and individuals who provide help for or information on internet and video game addiction.

Reaching out to your local therapy network may also provide the solution you seek.  However, if you™ve already tried therapy and you didn™t get the results you wanted, or if your child refuses to go to therapy, Camp Pocono Trails may be exactly what you are looking for.

You can also reach out to your insurance company and see if they cover group or individual therapy, or if they cover summer camps like Camp Pocono Trails.

Camp Pocono Trails Helps Minnesota Families From Cities Such As:

Some examples of cities from Minnesota which may have families who could use Camp Pocono Trails: Minneapolis St. Paul Rochester Bloomington Duluth Brooklyn Park Plymouth Maple Grove Woodbury St. Cloud Eagan Eden Prairie Coon Rapids Burnsville Blaine Lakeville Minnetonka Apple Valley