What Can You Expect from We.Care?
If you or a person you care for seek help at We.Care, you can expect to be meet with respect and a deep understanding of the gaming world. We promise you that “Well, why don’t you just stop playing and go out and get some fresh air”, are words your will never hear from us. Although gaming is often seen as an activity for young people, we realize its players are much more diverse. We can help you no matter what stage in life you are in at the moment in your life.
Why do some people develop a gaming disorder?
Often there are several reasons why a person develops a gaming disorder. Unmanageable emotions are often associated with problematic gaming. These emotions can manifest as:
- Stress
- Anxiety and unreasonable fears
- Deep resentment
- Explosive anger
- Relationship trouble
- Shame
For gaming disorder to be diagnosed, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months.
What are some typical signs of a gaming disorder?
Negative life situations can give rise to motivation to go online and alleviate negative feelings.
Some signs to watch for:
- Thinking about gaming all or a lot of the time
- Feeling bad when you can’t play
- Needing to spend more and more time playing to feel good
- Not being able to quit or even play less
- Not wanting to do other things that you used to like
- Having problems at work, school, or home because of your gaming
Psychologists Specialized in “Gaming Disorder”
Our psychologists have an internationally accredited training for mental health professionals on problematic and disordered gaming from Intenta. This training provides a comprehensive understanding of problematic and disordered gaming allowing mental health professionals to understand the context, dynamics, mechanisms and special issues that present with gaming.
What is a Gaming Disorder?
Gaming disorder is defined in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as a pattern of gaming behavior (“digital-gaming” or “video-gaming”) characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.
Gaming disorder can be mild, moderate, or severe depending on the degree of the disruption of normal activities. If you have a less severe gaming disorder you may have fewer symptoms and therefore less disruption of your life. Those with severe gaming disorder will have more hours spent on gaming and more severe loss of relationships or career or school opportunities.
When it comes to gaming behavior it’s very important to remember to see it on a continuum. A person’s gaming behavior is on a continuum going from recreational, to at-risk, to problematic and all the way to disordered gaming behavior. Most people play as a recreational activity, and that’s no problem. It’s an activity like many other hobbies.
If gaming becomes a “place” where a person goes in order to escape the physical world, other activities and social gatherings, it can be a sign of at-risk gaming behavior, and it can escalate to problematic gaming behavior and further down the line to disordered gaming behavior.
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