Video Game Addiction Support Group
Game addiction is a form of psychological addiction related to a compulsive use of computer and video games. People suffering from this form of addiction may experience intense cravings to play the game and may also suffer symptoms of withdrawal when they stop playing the game. Meet with friendly, supportive people sharing their experiences with Video Game Addiction.
Hi everyone, a little background first. I met my partner just over 3 years ago and at first things were great. Fast forward to now and we are engaged (very recently, only happened in December) and we have lived together for 2 years out of our 3 years together and I am 25 weeks pregnant with a baby boy. In the past he has had alcohol issues, a recovering alcoholic, whose addiction got so bad, his work nearly sacked him at least 4 times. The last time he was diagnosed with depression and had counselling. Now, it seems that the addiction is minecraft. I get people need to relax, but he basically just works and plays minecraft. He gets home from work, naps for a few hours, then gets up and plays minecraft for at least 4 hrs on the wekdays, weekends its 16 to 20 hrs a day. I am 25 weeks pregnant with our baby boy and went through a period of depression and anxiety, basically I felt unsupported and lonely and still do. I tried to talk to him, explained I wasn't coping and that i needed his support. These nights, he would sit with me for an hr, then flit over to his game and then eventually come back, I asked for help with cleaning the oven trays as I just dont appear to be physically strong enough to properly scrub them anymore and he still hasn't cleaned them, and its been 6 weeks. I have tried to talk to him about his addiction with minecraft and he just tells me that its not as bad as drinking, and that maybe he should start hanging around bars and what else is there to do, sit there with me? Youch! So now I have a fear of trying to talk to him as I get such a negative and aggressive reaction.
I am the one who suggests going out and its only once a month that I feel brave enough to do it, and we will, but he will hop straight onto the game when we get home and play long into the night. If we do got out, he gets quite aggitated when he drives and if he's not playing minecraft he's outside smoking endless cigarettes looking up cheats and special items for minecraft. I also work, study and tend to do everything around the house, I have asked for help, as I am often mentally and physically exhausted and just need a little help, but have beeen told "I don't do chores during the week", even after I have basically broken down in tears out of sheer frustration and exhaustation. He has been home with the 'flu; for the past few days, taking time of work, where he won't rest/sleep, saying that he can't, but he plays minecraft now all day. I get that he might be sick, but if he's well enough to play minecraft, I figure he's well enough for work.It seems now to be a special occaison for him to sit with me for longer than it takes him to eat dinner or to do anything together. Last week, he did sit with me for 2 nights and cooked dinner and I thought we were making progress and I was so grateful and I told him how much it meant to me, leaving the videogame aspect out of it. But, now its back to minecraft..
I have started seeing a counsellor as I thought I had perintal depression, but the scoring system they use says I am not depressed, I am stressed! So, I am pregnant, new to a state where I basically know no one, I can't afford to move out on my own (rather sad at my age I know) and feel unsupported, unloved, unvalued and fed up. I am not odepenadmt, I gave up a business, job and family and friends to reloacte to be with him. I am starting to make new friends and try to venture out with somehting besides work at least once a week. he has event told me if I can't cope with housework, to stop study and stop going out, where is the logic in that? I just don't understand why he just doesn't get it, even after I have told him, I NEED HIS HELP AND HIS VIDEO GAME ADDICTION IS UNHEALTHY.
I am concerned that once our muchly anticipated miracle boy is here, i will basically be a single mum with a dad who just plays video games. He seems to be looking forward to it, but I feel really isolated. I am in tears alot of the time just because I feel ignored and exhausted, I don't think it should be this way! I am reaching out as I have no idea how to deal with this, and I need support from people who are in the same boat or have been where he is. Any advice and comfortwould be greatly apprecaited
I also struggled with other addictions and I learned to recognize them as manifestations of an underlying problem. I did not want to feel negative feelings and I did whatever I could to escape my reality. Because of my video game addiction, I was mean and rude to my family. I was not there for them. I neglected them. I wish I could go back in time and undo that.
One of my sad memories is back when i was age 11-13. My elderly grandmother lived with us. She suffered from back pain and had this massage machine and would get temporary relief from her back pain if she used it. It was a pretty big machine that required two hands to operate. She would ask me to use it to massage her back so she could get some temporary relief. I was so addicted to video games that I would become angry that I had to leave my computer to do this for her. I remember wishing that she wasn't there or didn't live with us or was dead so I wouldn't have to deal with it. I was a nasty person when I was isolating like this. Well she died about 5 years ago. The last time I saw her was in a dream when my first son was born. She held him and told him to be good for daddy. Then she walked out the front door and I never saw her again I wish I could have been there for her while she was alive, but I wasn't because I had my head in those video games.
I still turn to video games and play them addictively from time to time, but I am in recovery from my other addictive behaviors. I can realize now that video games were a dysfunctional coping behavior that served to widen the chasm between me and my reality. I have to learn to lived in my own reality.