Today, in a world where the internet and gadgets are available at each person’s disposal, online gaming has become one of the most significant means of rejuvenation and leisure.
From children to young adults and working professionals, everyone now prefers staying in and playing a video game to stepping out for a stroll. While gaming may be a suitable means to distract oneself from the mundane rut, it is highly addictive, causing many individuals to spend unusually long periods in front of the screen.
In India, the market value of the gaming industry is estimated to rise to 250 billion rupees by 2024. As one of the fastest-growing sectors in the Indian economy, modern internet gaming comes with its own drawbacks, a significant one being gaming addiction.
What is Gaming Addiction?
Gaming addiction is a form of process addiction that involves an obsession with the internet or online games, to the extent that one begins to neglect the necessary day-to-day activities like self-care and social interactions.
This addicted person may continue playing video games despite evident physiological and psychological repercussions. The gamer is typically driven by the need to win the game or establish new best scores, thus successively replaying the game.
Video games often become an addiction when they escalate over time from being short retreats from one’s busy schedule to an escape from life itself. The approach can be severely detrimental to an individual’s life, and they could benefit highly from video game addiction treatment.
Symptoms of Gaming Addiction
Some common symptoms of gaming addiction are as follows:
- Spending hours or even days at a stretch playing video games
- Thinking about online gaming even when not playing
- Inability to concentrate on other tasks
- Extreme anxiety about winning the game and beating previous high scores
- Inability to stop playing games despite experiencing sickness and mental fatigue
- Inability to focus on one’s personal and professional life due to the addiction
If one can identify with two or more of these symptoms, it is advisable to seek gaming addiction treatment.
The Way Ahead With Safe House
As an esteemed rehabilitation centre in India, Safe House helps individuals become aware of and gradually overcome their addiction against the backdrop of a warm, accepting, and nurturing environment. Here are some ways in which we do so:
1. Individual Therapy Sessions: Our psychologists and psychiatrists conduct one-on-one therapy sessions with each patient. They spend sufficient time understanding their addiction levels and thought processes and provide a conducive environment for change. We utilise different therapies, from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and art therapy to psychodrama and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR).
2. Working on the Body and Mind: We follow a holistic healing process that works on the body as well as the mind. Our yoga, meditation, and self-reflection activities facilitate greater self-awareness and acceptance, both of which are instrumental to change. This is a crucial step in the gaming addiction treatment, since engaging in actual physical exercise is something that can go a long way in combating the issue.
3. Supervised Detox: Just like drug and alcohol addiction, process addiction also requires detox from addictive behaviour. Our proficient psychiatrists and clinicians closely supervise the patients during the detox phase, monitoring their parameters and mental health. If needed, they provide additional medical and psychological assistance to help patients overcome the detox challenges efficiently.
4. Couple and Family Therapy: Addiction to gaming can be a dark and chaotic phase for the affected person and his/her family members. Couple and family therapy helps the patient’s loved ones understand his/her problems better and provide much-needed emotional support during and post-rehabilitation.
We are listening – reach out to us through phone or email, or send us a message on our Contact Us page to work towards a bright, addiction-free future!