Thanks for your questions, Chloe.

Q

How would you help parents differentiate healthy and enthusiastic gaming from problem gaming?

A

Recreational gamers are able to self-regulate their gaming time. They play for short periods of time and understand there are many translatable skills that gaming offers such as problem solving, team dynamics, determination and tenacity, and micro and macro managing. These players still enjoy a variety of other activities outside of gaming.

Escapers and High Achiever disordered gamer sub-types play for different reasons. They are looking to escape emotional pain or trauma and/or look for high reward for low risk to feel they can gain a sense of high achievement. They give up other activities and friendships outside of gaming. They can become irritable and out of control when gaming is removed. They often stop grooming, eat healthy and gain weight or eat very little and lose weight. This is often coupled by drinking highly caffeinated energy drinks. Some stop attending school or jobs. They have erratic and poor sleep habits. Addicted gamers will continue to game even if it’s affecting their life in a negative way. They believe they can’t live without it.

Q

Jake mentioned that at one point he returned to gaming when telling his story. When coaching parents/caregivers, how do you approach this when young people return to gaming after quitting?

A

Relapse is part of recovery and can be expected. When this occurs, we look to see what the emotional trigger was that led the child back to gaming and work to heal this. We also look to see if something was missing from their recovery and support plan and tweak it to something more effective.

Jake always believed that he only had to stop gaming to get through university. In his mind, he could return to it during summer breaks and once his degree program was completed. So because he wasn’t approaching it with long term sobriety in mind, he was white knuckling and that always left him vulnerable to slips and relapses.