What Effect Does Video Game Disorder Have on my Pennsylvania Teen?
Video game disorder is very hard to treat. In one surprising study, In one study 84% of addicted gamers were still addicted two years later, demonstrating how difficult gaming addiction is to treat. In the same study, 7% of online gamers were classified as psychologically or behaviorally dependent on online gaming.
This begs the question, “why is gaming so addictive?” According to research in the Journal of Mental Health and Addiction 41% of people who play online video games do so as an, “escape from the real world.” Another risk factor is found in players with strong social motivation. Some games involve social obligations, where players have to work together. This can mean a player feels obliged to play along as the rest of the group wants to play. Farmville strives to ensure participation at regular intervals by making gamers dependent on each other for daily allotments of fantasy resources.
Putting together role-play and social use in one game should yield a highly compelling game. World of Warcraft, a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, fits this description and is, anecdotally, pretty addictive.
There is much debate currently about the effect of video game violence on the real world. According to a study in Pediatrics, as much as 20% of real-life violence may be attributable to media violence. Why is this? Researchers speculate that there is a two-fold issue here. First, constant exposure to video game violence decreases our sensitivity to real-world violence. Seeing a fight at school might seem more normal to a child that has been exposed to ongoing video game violence, making them less likely to intervene or even more likely to instigate violence themselves.
Gaming Addiction Help: Individual Therapy for Pennsylvania Teens
At Camp Pocono Trails, we support individual therapy. We can work in tandem with therapists back home in Pennsylvania 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 dont 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.
Pennsylvania Teens Can Find Success at Our Gaming Addiction Help Center
Pennsylvania 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 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:
– Social Issues
– Social Anxiety Disorder
– Family Conflict
– Video game addiction
– Poor Communication Skills
– Low Self Esteem
– Impulse Control
– Addictive Behaviors
– Technology Addiction
– ADHD
– Depression
– Social isolation
– Anxiety
– Trauma
– School Refusal
– Autism Spectrum
Resources
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 youve already tried therapy and you didnt 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.
Follow Online Safety Tips for Teens With Gaming Addiction Help
One important tip for video games or online digital media is to watch it or play together with your child. Do not let your child keep their game system in their bedroom. Instead, keep your video game system in shared family spaces to stay familiar with how your children are using it. You can assist your student to make smart entertainment choices by discussing the game or media together. One good way to start is to watch a Youtube playthrough video before you purchase a game.
Communicate. Make online activity a daily topic of conversation. Ask your children questions about playing new games, meeting new people online, favorite websites and other interests. Encourage your child to ask questions, too.
Set guidelines. Determine what video gaming and online rules work best for your family, and work with your children to establish technology rules. Examine if violence is part of the game your child wants to play. How often does violence appear? Is it rewarded in some way? Its up to individual families to make the right choices for their child in regards to what they want their student exposed to.
Camp Pocono Trails helps families from Pennsylvania
Camp Pocono Trails helps Pennsylvania families from cities and towns like Easttown Township Fox Chapel Haverford Edgeworth Upper Makefield Lower Merion Township Willistown Township Solebury Tredyffrin Wrightstown