Slashdot Mirror
Interview With the Founder of a Video Game Rehab Clinic
Ten Ton Hammer has posted the transcript from an interview with Dr. Hilarie Cash, co-founder of the "reSTART Internet Addiction Recovery Program," a relatively new clinic that deals with adults who feel that they are addicted to video games. The interview contains some.. interesting nuggets of wisdom. If you want to avoid addiction, you'd better spend less than two hours per day on online entertainment! The good news is that she doesn't recommend beating people.
"When people come, they come for 45 days. It is only for adults; patients must be 18 or older. When they first come, they come for a minimum 2 days to be interviewed and to interview us, because we don't want anyone there who doesn't want to be there. So if they decide they want to be there then they stay for 45 days or longer if they choose. During that time they don't have access to the internet. The idea is that it takes at least 30 days for the brain to make some adjustments it needs to make to get over this addiction, so the brain can begin to rewire back to normal. During that time we are helping them look at why they got addicted, what motivated their addiction and we're assessing to see what skills they are lacking so they can be successful in their adult lives. We try to make a good start at helping to build those skills."
I seriously think I might be addicted to slashdot.
But 30 days -net free, That's nuts.
No internet access for 45 days? But there's nothing else to do!
http://twitter.com/onion2k
I wonder if they have a website?
FTA:
MMOZin: You have a doctor there?
Dr Cash: We work with a doctor in Redmond [...]
Well... that's a no-go then.
So do what everyone else does in these institutions.
In this case, they hold role-playing classes. People get to give themselves a new identity for the duration of the treatment. They are then encouraged to refer to the other patients by their new names.
They aren't allowed to bring in money from the outside, but they are given gold-coloured tokens which they can spend at the tuck shop for food, or they can go to the costume room and spend it on clothing accessories. If they save up enough tokens, they can spend them on keys to hidden rooms at the centre where they can learn the secrets of beating addiction. They can also buy weapons to further aid them in their epic quest for freedom from game addiction...
Squirrel!
Can they cure Slashdot addiction?
I've played video games for the last 19 years, since I was 12, and I never got addicted.
Actually, I don't have any addictions. I only smoke and drink when I play video games...
make some!
I'm pretty sure that demanding 7 weeks off work because you got busted playing World of Warcraft in your cube would be a career limiting move.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
From the sumary:
"(...) we're assessing to see what skills they are lacking so they can be successful in their adult lives (...)"
Does this mean that videogame addiction "sprouts" from the lack of some "skills" needed for "success" in "adult lives"? Is it just me, or are they trying to shoe-horn videogames as something "for kids" again? And if you play too much of them, does it mean automatically that you are "lacking some skills so you can be a successful adult" (i.e. you are a big kid)?
Does a smoking addiction sprouts from "lack of skills needed for success in adult lives" as well? How about achool addiction? What sort of skills might a person be "lacking" to "fall" into a smoking habit?
There is something odd here, but I can't quite put my finger on it...
"A sysadmin is a cross between a detective, a police officer, a gardener, a doctor and a fireman"
If you want to avoid addiction, you'd better spend less than two hours per day on online entertainment!
Maybe I should set my sons Club Penguin account back to a one hour per day limit. He seems to have persuaded his mother to set it to three hours.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
... I can't believe people are paying for this.
... noobs !
Just cast cure to remove the confusion status
Don't you know it is now both immoral and criminal to think beyond the next quarterly report?
Hi,
if you are into games or long programming sessions, PLEASE do check http://www.dvtawarenesscampaign.com/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_vein_thrombosis
DVT are blood clots formed in legs etc., that can block your blood flow in the particular limb or travel around in your veins, and in worst case, damage your heart or lungs.
I'm now probably up for a lifetime treatment with blood thinners and compression stockings. Ironically, I probably developed DVT after I quit smoking (I didn't smoke indoors, and thus went out of the house/up from my seat every hour to get a cigarette)
Once again, DVT is dangerous and it affects a huge number of people every year, and quite a few of those are ganked permanently.
The scary part is that I also know several other programmers and gamers who've had DVT the last 5 years. Don't be a fool like me: Game, program and work responsibly.
If you are diagnosed with DVT, it will hit you like a hammer physically and mentally.
I am addicted to lazyness
may I get 45 days off ?
The world belongs to those who get up early. - I'm far from being the king of Earth then
Ouch. That's like going cold turkey on the smack and the cigarettes at the same time.
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." George Bernard Shaw
Yeah. Travian is pretty addictive - takes over your whole life 24/7/365 days.
Talked to someone who only sleeps 3hrs at a time, logging on to play, log-off to sleep. Others play and lose their jobs. Family comes 2nd.
After a year, the game finishes only to restart 3 weeks later. A real vicious circle.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
What does online entertainment have to do with addiction? So if you listen to 3+ hours on online radio per day instead of RL radio you will become addicted?
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
I don't know how the rest of you gamers feel, but I am so tired of people complaining about how we play video games for 2 hours in a night, yet it's ok for them to watch TV for 2 hours. The hypocrisy to me is ridiculous. Someone can sit down and watch a 2 hour movie and that's considered normal and common behavior, but heaven forbid we sit down and play a video game for 2 hours! Does anyone else here feel the same way? Sorry, this has been bugging me for a while. :) /end rant ;)
I'd like to start a clinic for the rehabilitation of those addicted to spending money. I can help, honestly. They can turn their money over to me and after a week of therapy, I can guarantee they won't have that problem anymore. They just have to want it bad enough and do the program.
Once this takes off , I can open my other clinic for women addicted to virginity and celibacy . Is there someone you know, maybe a friend, sister, relative or even your wife who doesn't get any sexual satisfaction due to celebate addiction? Send them my way.
I'll do anything I can to help.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
A few years ago, I started playing eve-online, well I must admit that I was instantly hooked-up. I spent the next 3 years playing this game hardcore, and became very good at it. Eventually, I managed to become quite wealthy and amassed a ton of very expensive items and ships. I was very successfull in this game... That was until I lost everything, when my freighter was blown up by other players. In a heartbeat,I lost everything I had, everything I spent time for. I realised that it took only a second to destroy three entire years of efforts. I finally "woke up", cancelled all of my 4 (!!!) accounts and never touched it again. Peoples need to understand that "virtual worlds" are just that - it doesnt exist - the only real thing is the time and commitment one can spend on theses games.
No it wouldn't. Just break down crying about how you have this crippling addiction and enjoy your 45-day vacation. Odds are, someone in upper management spent a few weeks in a methadone clinic or something similar in a medium-sized company anyway.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Welcome back to Meatspace.
A quick recap: you have to grind a helluva lot harder to have any chance of becoming successful (3 years? Pfft, Meatspace needs at least 30), most diligent (and lucky) players amass only a little more "money" than they need to keep them grinding, you can still lose everything in a second, and you only have one account. Physical corporate warfare is only allowed on the PK server ("Somalia"). There are good reasons for this, which you will soon be re-familiarized with. Some of your character's stats will start to DECREASE at certain points in the game, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
The graphics and physics are lightyears ahead but the gameplay sucks ass. Are you sure you don't want to go back to EVE Online?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I have vociferously posted against the use of the word "addiction" for psychological dependency on non-addictive substances (e.g. sex, games, gambling).
However, the treatment is going to be similar, with a few notable changes.
1) Withdrawal won't happen with games, because there's no physical dependency. In fact, this is a big part of what differentiates true addiction from "addiction" to games, etc.
2) After withdrawal, a drug addict will normally go through counselling and the like, to avoid falling back to the drug. The physical breaking free, though, is a huge part. Now with game "addiction", the lack of a physical dependency (and alternatively, lack of withdrawal) means that counselling is all there is to keep the person from going back to the game.
I know someone currently going through alcohol addiction detox and recovery, and it's a six-week program laid out quite a bit like this. Alcohol detox/withdrawal is a weird one because it is usually very short and mild, although the residual effects linger for ages. Anyways, after withdrawal is dealt with, 6-12 weeks seems pretty standard to get a person back together enough for them to move forward, regardless of what they're dealing with.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban