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Videogames Used to Treat ADHD
deeptrace writes "USA today has an article about a videogame based treatment for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). It uses NASA derived technology to measure brainwave activity while playing videogames. Clinical psychologist Henry Owens says 'If they just play videogames on their own, they will zone out. When they play on this system, if they zone out [as detected by brainwave activity], the videogame doesn't respond any more' This is supposed to help the patient increase the ability to focus and concentrate."
They're selling a crippled EEG machine for $500 which doesn't even give the read out of the brain activities. If you are semi serious about this, I would suggest you take a look at OpenEEG. It's a opensource DIY modular EEG machine that costs around $200 to build (there is also a partialy build version available). There are several free games, and the best thing is, it's not limit to the Playstation (supports Win, Mac, Linux, PocketPC, etc.).
Of course if you want to make sense of the readings, you need to know how to interpret the brainwave patterns. There are several book on this subject; the more popular ones are:
Getting Started with Neurofeedback
The High-Performance Mind
Here is a test to see if there is really adhd. Put one of these kids in front of their favorite video game. (I have never seen a kid in front of their favorite video game zone out, they are completely engrossed in the game) If they can play it for more the 30 minutes at a time without a break, then they have no problem concentrating.
Hi. Might I suggest you do something crazy like, say, reading a book about ADHD? Hallowell and Ratey's book Driven to Distraction is a great start. It's written by two licensed psychiatrists who both have ADD.
In there you will learn that "Attention Deficit Disorder" is an unfortunate misnomer, and that part of the disorder is very strong focus on things that are sufficiently stimulating. They mention that a better name would be something like "Attention Inconsistency Disorder".
As somebody diagnosed with ADD in college, I believe it's a real thing. My attentional mechanisms are definitely different than most people. I am very distractable, and can also be very focused in certain rare circumstancess. I have learned to act like normal people do, but it has taken me years of practice, and I have a host of special tricks to pass.
I agree with you that sugar, caffeine, and television can aggravate things. I don't own a TV, but do own a TV-B-Gone, the universal TV off button, so that I can keep up a conversation in places where nobody is watching the TV but it still blares away. And my personal guess is that it's not a disorder in the traditional sense, but rather a genetic difference that was adaptive in certain environments, even if it is not adaptive in certain particular modern circumstances.
But I still think that difference exists, and modern society treating it as a "disability" is better than sweeping it under the rug like they used to. The various medications they have are interesting and I found them helpful in understanding exploring ways to think and be. I don't take them anymore, but if a kid diagnosed with ADD is still having trouble in school after eliminating environmental aggravators and working on organization and study skills, I think it's negligent not to offer them the opportunity to try the various meds to see if something helps. I sure would have benefitted by trying them earlier than college.