Playing to beat the blues: Video games viable treatment for depression

mediumwaffle · 2017-03-27T13:57:22+00:00

This is not news. People have been attacking games specifically because they treat depression. It is classic cult behavior. What is the first thing Scientology does to members? Stop all therapy, stop all medication, rely on the church as the sole treatment for everything. People who are depressed are easier to control, and they are willing to hear dumb suggestions about how kids and marriage will fix everything.

soullessgeth · 2017-03-27T14:30:14+00:00

the other reason i like them is because it's an outlet for men to have guy friends in their adult lives...because let's face it, single life is the best realistic future for men at this point

TheRiseAndFall · 2017-03-27T15:37:39+00:00

When you play a good game you're pretty much in a completely different world and you don't give a fuck about anything else. When I was a kid my dad would scold me because I wouldn't hear his voice while playing games.

I'd say it's pretty similar to lifting because they can both be pursued obsessively. Of course, unlike gaming, lifting is actually healthy.

Society doesn't like it when men can be happy by themselves, they want men to keep the tribe happy.

Ovalidem · 2017-03-27T15:55:55+00:00

Can confirm. A huge part of my own depression was that I had no control over my own life and that I wasn't able to do anything about the situation I was in.
Surprise surprise, video games are made to be won.

IslandicFreedom · 2017-03-27T18:58:21+00:00

As with everything, I think it varies from person to person and situation to situation.

I've suffered from depression pretty heavily and I tried some varied techniques and treatments. I'm also an avid gamer, and I've spent an unfathomable amount of times playing games over the years.

Gaming did not cure my depression. Gaming might have made my life a little more tolerable but that is about it. I can easily imagine scenarios where gaming to the point of obsession will only make depression worse.

What I will say is this, what ultimately cured my depression, alcoholism and social anxiety did not cost me any money, and did not involve any therapy or external assistance, neither any medication.

No, here is what finally cured my depression, addiction (induced from depression) and social anxiety (made worse by depression).

As with everything in life - always some fucking irony, but it was the very clear cut understanding and acceptance of my mortality.

I don't really expect anyone to understand this in 5 minutes, it took me decades to finally get it, this and aging. But I'll try explain it.

You see, imagine if I put you in a room with a bomb. I set the timer to 5 minutes. Ask yourself, where is your depression and social anxiety. It stands to reason that both are obliterated, forced out your mind, replaced with the imminent threat of that bomb going off. But 5 minutes is not an incredible amount of time left, so you might just reside yourself to that bottle of gin because "fuck it all".

If the timer was set to a day, you might still be completely anxious the whole day and not enjoy your remaining time.

But if the timer was set to 2 weeks, let's say the room was full of interesting things, hell even the best looking hookers you can imagine, and a swimming pool. You might think "Fuck it, I'll die anyways, might as well have the most fun possible for 13 days, and then on the last day I can be anxious" or something like this, but you still wouldn't be able to help yourself thinking about that bomb because 2 weeks isn't very long.

But imagine if I gave you 20 fucking years! 30 mother fucking years, or whooping 40 god damn long ass years! Once you've grasped that the bomb will go off, you take some relief that no matter how shit things are there is a bomb that everyone is carrying around with them, that will go off, your pain and suffering will one day come to an end. It is the best and only true security you have in life. You will die, this one thing cannot ever be taken away from you.

Since it is coming your way, what's the rush? Honestly how bad is your life? Pretty fucking terrible you might say. I know I did. But I decided right then and there I had no more time to play.

It was time to start living with a certain urgency. Not to be fooled by the seemingly complacent masses who seem to be so fucking happy listening to Ukulele tracks and have all the time in the world - death was coming for them too. When you're this depressed the whole world seems like marshmallow land and no one gets you.

You're also fucking weak, have no confidence, but depression won't make you stupid, neither can it completely stomp out your inner drive your ultimate goodness but at times it feels like it could.

Then comes this paradigm shift. Every time you feel social anxiety - think of that bomb. Think that one day it won't matter so why should it matter now. In a meeting and all they can talk about is mindlessly numbing stuff no one cares about or will in 5 years? Remember that bomb. That bomb will help you lead, it will help you get up off your ass and priorities things. Office politics and petty arguments will be background noise, a very mild light hiss.

But this time comes with some responsibilities, well nothing's for free, so if you want to maximize it and establish and keep peace of mind.

Try and live in a blameless way. I mean stop fucking up all the time and giving people reason to dislike you, distrust you or despise you. You don't have to go around licking ass, but you can and should be respectable.

Another thing stop chasing any popularity waterfalls. Stop doing stuff because you think it's cool or because you want to impress other people. Be genuine, do shit because you like it, say stuff because you mean it, be tactful too. Stop any power play bullshit.

And then another thing happens. People actually start liking you. Start treating you better, not like you're some cursed scap, but that you're actually a human fucking being. Nice!

That's perhaps the final door on depression, once you get to this stage it should be all good from here on out. Just remember the clock is ticking, and that problem isn't going away.

I'm not saying utilize every minute like some crazed mad man, I'm saying enjoy the time, bask in it.

Lastly don't under estimate alcohol as a destructive force in your life. Drinking can and might fuck you up. In my experience life is infinitely better without it.

2017-03-27T16:20:51+00:00

I've always been interested in space travel. The many stars and galaxies I'll never see. Games help satiate my curiosity. Elite dangerous, the ME trilogy and also its newest addition are my favourite 'space games.'

I used to play games to escape my depression, now I play them to kill time. I'm also a bit of a misanthropist and I avoid going out unless needed, so there's that too.

Marque01 · 2017-03-27T17:05:02+00:00

I rely on video games to get me through the winter, but then again I'm up here in Canada :)

In the summer, it's daily bike rides and working on my lawn. I moved into a place and the lawn was totally ignored by the previous owners. I've been spending the springs tackling all the weeds and reseeding the bare patches. In the last three years I've turned it from a shitty brown spotty lawn to a nice thick green lawn with only a few shitty brown spots :) I enjoy it and it gives me something to do when I get home from work. In the winter though, yeah, it's video games :)

rebuildingMyself · 2017-03-27T15:54:17+00:00

Well they take your mind off stuff for sure, but not a great treatment often.

I had a buddy who was a poster child for unhealthy gaming habits. His life went to shit, his house filled up with trash, because he has counter strike and could just avoid problems. Avoided them so long they got so steep that it became less and less likely he would face them

Hiromant · 2017-03-27T19:38:39+00:00

The average person watches more than four hours of television a day. Keep this in mind whenever someone criticizes gaming.
Gaming takes us back to what life used to be like: put in straightforward effort, reap predictable rewards, feel good. If you fail, put in more effort and very likely you will succeed.

Life in a modern society is a complicated mess for the human brain. Nearly everything has been discovered and done before. There is no direction, no structure, no cause and effect. You have to "succeed" in what a hunter-gatherer would consider pure chaos. "Success" means doing a complicated, abstract job sitting on a chair all day, then a month later a number on a fictional bank account increases somewhat. Modern life is a neurochemical dead end, no wonder it depresses people.

You finally get home and log into a game. You can explore mysterious worlds, take on the challenges within them, improve yourself and overcome them. You can share all of this with your friends. This is what the male brain has evolved to do. No wonder it feels great.

Efirion · 2017-03-27T20:23:43+00:00

Totally true!!! The Witcher 3 help me A LOT, after i left my ex gf.

IbushiKOTA · 2017-03-27T16:50:30+00:00

I believe gaming is a shitty way to handle depression. Being sedentary is one of the worst ways to handle being depressed. You should be trying to get outside in the fresh air honestly. Sitting down for hours at a time is one of the worst things you can do for your body. Also you're just running from your issues into a fantasy world.

SnapshillBot · 2017-03-27T11:47:12+00:00

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toysjoe · 2017-03-27T17:26:21+00:00

When I want to relax I pop in Dead or Alive Xtreme 3.

2017-03-28T00:59:05+00:00

I am drunk and about to play war thunder. Hell yeah.

Cuck-WTF · 2017-03-28T06:15:48+00:00

Ookami. The game is an antidepressant.

2017-03-28T10:05:01+00:00

Video games don't always help all the time, but they can be great to escape for a bit or just to pass the time. Now with that said, time for some RBI baseball!

Mr_RobotDick · 2017-03-29T01:28:37+00:00

Games help with problem solving. You've always got to figure out a solution to the problem with most games. Just some observations at my workplace I noticed coworkers whom i know love gaming usually solve client issues much faster than the ones who binge watch reality TV shows

Title	Playing to beat the blues: Video games viable treatment for depression
Author	Arzu1982
Upvotes	78
Comments	49
Date	March 27, 2017 11:46 AM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MGTOW
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MGTOW/comments/61rnsd/playing_to_beat_the_blues_video_games_viable/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MGTOW/playing-to-beat-the-blues-video-games-viable.599268 https://theredarchive.com/post/599268

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