Recovery:
Recovery from MMP gaming addiction can be quite difficult. Some people who have had a concurrent addiction, have said that the hardest one to quit was the gaming. The unique aspects of the gaming situation mean that people are not only leaving behind the addictive behaviour which becomes like a friend, but also leaving behind the people and characters with which they have been interacting. This can engender severe grief. When considering quitting, many addicts have a profound sense of sadness, and wonder what they will do without it. They may believe that their lives will be boring, have little meaning, and be empty. They may visualize a huge gap that is frightening to them. For some, it means facing some of the underlying issues that led to the out of control habits— work stress, marital stress, loneliness, and feelings of depression or inadequacy.
Gaming is still rather new in our society. This means that it is still easy to deny there is an addictive issue, or the extent of it. Denial is one of the most common reasons people do not get help with any addiction, but with gaming still being so new and many gamers being young, it is hard to see how one’s behaviour may be different from other gamers who are just out having a good time. People can convince themselves that others do not understand them, or gaming.
Quitting and recovery can take a long time, but people will begin to feel better after just a few weeks or a month of being without the game. Some people try to modulate their usage (a “harm reduction” approach) so that they will be gaming a limited and proscribed amount of time within strict parameters. This is a risky approach and begs the question, “if it is such an important part of your life that you cannot give it up, what does that say about it’s hold on you?” For those who have an addiction, why would you want to try to hang on to the habit?
When people try to quit, they often end up promising themselves that they won’t do it anymore, and finding that they cannot adhere to that promise. They may tell someone, ok, if I don’t stop by such and such a day, then you can take it off my computer, and not follow through on that. The process of quitting can be a long one in which people try over and over again, until they fully commit to quitting, and acknowledge how serious the hold is on them, and how much damage they are doing to themselves and their families.
Gaming addiction research will show that the “highs” and excitement that come from the gaming aspects release the same chemicals and stimulate the same centres of the brain as other addictions. This means that there is a biochemical component to the addiction, not just a psychosocial component. As the brain gets used to and dependent on the stimulation and chemical and hormonal release, stopping the activity that leads to it, means that the body will have to adjust. Symptoms of withdrawal include:
Anger, irritability, loss of sleep, restlessness
Depression
Anxiety
Boredom, fear
“Using” dreams, in which one dreams one has gone back to playing.
Difficulty experiencing joy or happiness