Psychedelic Therapy for Video Game Addiction
Video Game Addiction
Video games are a powerful technology. They are immersive worlds that we can become stuck in, at the extreme unable to differentiate between reality and the game. Just like with smartphones, internet, and social media addiction, the lobes of the prefrontal cortex deactivate as the player takes on the passive act of receiving, rather than creating, the world. Video games produce trance-like states where hours can go by, stimulate the same pleasure centers as sex, and produce analgesic effects strong enough to treat burn victims.
As with internet and smartphone addiction, the dopamine-stimulating environment of video games can leave us feeling dulled by reality. Many people suffering from video game addiction report wishing that life were more like a game. There is a deficit of meaning that is fulfilled by mystical quests through magic lands or through the cooperation of a team towards a goal.
Treating Video Game Addiction
A big part of the work in treating video game addiction is in establishing the structures that will allow the individual to find meaning from life. Ketamine-assisted therapy can help to find meaning in this world. With structured support and guided ketamine therapy, one can recover a sense of exhilaration and agency that they often feel in the game world. Ketamine therapy can help to recover this lost sense of wonder and awe that video games have supplemented, allowing the individual the opportunity to make life a magical quest.
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