Video Games
You may have heard of the nine-year-old girl in the U.K. whose father discovered her sitting on a urine-soaked cushion playing the video game “Fortnite.” But before you get in an argument or debate as to whether “Fortnite” is addictive to young children, let me share just a bit about video games.
Fortnite
Video games can become addictive, but so can running. Both can offer a dopamine high. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It is to search for. And if you are not getting it, maybe then you need counseling along with the addicted.
A good video game captures your total attention and offers a dopamine boost. It acts in the way that heroin and other opioids do, targeting the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with the pleasurable neurotransmitter dopamine so that the behavior is likely to repeat again and again.
But though the same neural pathways are stimulated by dopamine with heroin and Fortnite, with Fortnite the opioid is endogenous, meaning it is manufactured in our own brain, while heroin and cocaine are chemically manufactured and flood the receptors with many times the amount of dopamine.
As gaming researchers Patrick Markey and Christopher Ferguson (2017) point out in a recent book, video gaming raises dopamine levels in the brain to about the same degree that eating a slice of pepperoni pizza or dish of ice cream does (without the calories). That is, it raises dopamine to roughly double it’s normal resting level, whereas drugs like heroin, cocaine, or amphetamine raise dopamine by roughly ten times that much. (Sense and Nonsense about Video Game Addiction, Psychology Today, March 11, 2018)
Secure Attachment
We all need the occasional opioid boost, even newborn infants do. When babies receive consistent, ongoing love and warm, touching, tender care, they are happy and contented. Adults are happy and cheerfully contained when they are supported by loving, caring family and friends. A secure attachment and positive social bonding are accompanied by the release of three neuropeptide brain chemicals. The strongest of these three neuropeptides is our endogenous opioids. Opioids make people feel secure and happy.
Anxious-Avoidant Attachment
On the other hand, when infants do not have a loving maternal bond, they suffer from anxiety and produce GRIEF-stricken distress vocalizations (DVs). Neglected, isolated adults become lonely, GRIEF-stricken, and depressed. Arousal of the GRIEF system feels awful because the brain stops manufacturing endogenous opioids.
The effects of a poor maternal bond have lifelong repercussions. As infants, our dependency is complete and our survival rests on social bonds created by those who care for us. When young children receive poor care –– when abandoned, neglected, or abused –– they endure an ongoing sense of insecurity and longing arising from these same networks that promote lifelong personality and social bonding issues.
As adults, they turn to psychotherapy. Others turn to alcohol and drugs. Opium in the form of heroin offers dramatic results for these lost individuals, at least at first. Years ago opiates were the only effective psychiatric medicines available to doctors. And although their use often led to addiction, they definitely made GRIEF-stricken patients feel better. They knew even back then that the effects of opioids were similar to the feelings of security from supportive social bonds and networks.
Counseling
Supportive social networks and bonds are intimately entwined with the production of endogenous opioids in the brain. Therapy must attempt to restore social networks and bonds in the lonely and grieving.
reStart Residential Counseling
Research shows that between 8-10% of technology users are in need of treatment for some form of problematic technology use. (reStart)
reStart’s mission statement:
Helping connect digital media users with what matters most – life. Our innovative program model assists the digitally distracted discover their passion and purpose in life. At reSTART, we understand that problematic Internet and gaming use often co-occurs with other mental health conditions. Our program is designed to address a wide variety of underlying issues which may contribute to excessive Internet use (e.g., family problems, divorce, childhood trauma, depression, anxiety, ADHD, etc.) by connecting individuals with integrative community service providers knowledgeable in these areas during a stay at the center.
The reSTART Model
Increasing connection to what matters most to each individual
Reconnect to the activities of life
Participate in a community of like-minded individuals for support
Improve overall physical, emotional and overall health and well-being
Reduce the risk factors leading to problematic use
All About Flow
When people enter a flow state they talk about feeling like they’re senses are incredibly heightened.
During flow, the brain releases an enormous cascade of neurochemistry. Large quantities of norepinephrine, dopamine, endorphins, anandamide, and serotonin flood our system. All are pleasure-inducing, performance-enhancing chemicals with considerable impacts on creativity. (Psychology Today)
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who coined the term “flow,” said that the natural state of the mind is chaos and this is why we need to constantly work at flow. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as the antidote and breaks activities offering flow into seven components.
Flow’s Seven Components
- Completely involved in what we are doing – focused.
- A sense of ecstasy – of being outside everyday reality.
- Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to be done and how well we are doing,
- Knowing the activity is doable – that our skills are adequate to the task.
- A sense of serenity – no worries about oneself, and a feeling of growing beyond the boundaries of the ego.
- Timelessness – thoroughly focused on the present; hours seem to pass by in minutes.
- Intrinsic motivation – whatever produces flow becomes its own reward.
Habits and strategies offering a sense of flow are activities you are so into that you lose a sense of time. Writing, drawing, painting, sports, nature, yoga, meditation, music, and video games are some activities that can transport you into this state of flow. I get mine from my daily bibliotherapy.
Delicate Balance of Skill & Challenge
Flow requires a delicate balance between skill level and challenge. A good video game is programmed so that the level of challenge stays just ahead of skill level. If the skill level is set too low you get bored. If it is too high you get frustrated. The precise balance between challenge and level of skill contributes to flow.
Video Games offer a world with immediate feedback so you know how well you are doing moment to moment. You enter into a world where the activity is intrinsically rewarding, concentration is deep, problems are forgotten, and control and a feeling of mastery are possible. Self-consciousness disappears and it is possible to transcend the limits of ego, self, and time, lifting you out of a powerless state of ennui or chronic stress.
Once you have entered this effortless, spontaneous state, whatever you are doing is worth doing for its own sake. It is a state in which you are doing something that you really like to do and are totally involved. You lose track of time and may not notice when you are hungry or tired. It is a state when both the skill level and challenge are higher than average, with the challenge slightly higher than the skill level. You can be doing practically anything, riding the balance between the challenge and skill level, constantly working a bit beyond your comfort zone to reinforce and advance from each level of skill.
Csikszentmihalyi searched for ways to make flow accessible to more people. It comes to artists, gamers, and athletes naturally. But many people rarely experience flow, so the challenge is to incorporate it into our educational system from the earliest grades. All of us should be able to shift into a flow activity offering a sense of serene clarity and focus. I get my daily flow from bibliotherapy. But I am tempted to try Fortnite.
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
