Can a radical new therapy may heal the deepest layers of the brain—and transform the way we treat the often untreatable victims of PTSD?
Scientists say that “body-orientated therapies” can heal the deepest layers of the brain and they’re hoping neuroscience will prove them right.
If you don’t spend hours each day with a controller, phone or tablet in hand, staring at the latest FPS, Battle Royale or MMORPG, even if you’ve no clue what those are, you probably know someone who does. There are estimated to be 2.5 billion video gamers worldwide. These range from the commuter tapping away at a Candy Crush-type casual thing to the caricatured US teen, rarely leaving the family basement due to 12+ hour binges on Fortnite or Call Of Duty. At $140bn per year, the global video games market is far larger than markets for music and movies combined. Over half of this revenue is from mobile phone games, more of which later.
Video games are a centerpiece of the creative economy and popular culture, but their alleged pernicious effects are a perennial hot-topic for journalists. The scaremongering is easy to understand when looking at some of the worst examples, such as a 2010 case that reads more like a Black Mirror plot, when a South Korean baby died of neglect because her parents were so busy raising a virtual child online.
Journalism can tend to fixate on“moral panics” though. Think of the fuss over Video Nasties and allegedly Satanic influenced Heavy Metal in former decades, when dear old VHS and vinyl were set to cause the downfall of civilisation. And there are plenty of ways in which video games can have a benign influence: as a fun use of down-time that’s less passive than TV, and with potential for developing mental and teamwork skills. But video game addiction is a thing – recognised as a disorder on the same lines as gambling by the World Health Organisation, and as diagnosable by the American Psychiatric Association, whose manuals are something of a bible for mental health professionals worldwide. As with many things, there can be a blur between leisure, habit, compulsion and addiction. Are there aspects of game dynamics and design that could feed and exploit addictive tendencies? Well, yes there are. It would actually be surprising if a great deal of expertise didn’t go into making games compelling and therefore addictive. Games tend to be designed around gameplay loops, which operate as a kind of grammar. In the most successful cases these are easily intuited by the player. Flappy Bird had one of the simplest possible loops, basically: Rise – fall – avoid things. It was understandable within a few seconds and without instruction, yet it was popular to the point where the creator removed it from the internet in dismay. More sophisticated games might revolve around loops like Do quest – upgrade character – do harder quest”. With technological advancement, games like Red Dead Redemption 2 allow a number of different loops to operate at one time as players explore giant open worlds. No matter how sophisticated the gameplay and structure, each type of game described above can hook the player in for different reasons. Games played online have an extra level of addictive potential to those that are played solo. A major example is World Of Warcraft. In its heyday it was widely known as “Warcrack”, birthing large internet forums where “Warcraft Widows” bemoaned the havok the game had caused to their relationships. There tend to be big cultural and gameplay differences between mobile games (on tablets and phones) as opposed to console and PC gaming, not just because of the casual nature of mobile games but because the lack of a controller can be quite limiting for gameplay. Mobile games have gravitated towards a free-to-play model, that tends to build gameplay around income generation rather than quality gaming. For example, there can be long waiting times (that can be skipped for money) and virtual currencies with an opaque relation to the real life currency used to buy them. With incessant dopamine rewards via graphical and musical blips, mobile games usually lure players in by being easy at first. But once someone is hooked (and has invested quite a bit of time) it becomes harder to progress without paying (this is called “hitting the paywall”). Free games are often profitable due to a small number of “whales”, a term used for casino big spenders, borrowed from the gambling industry. Whales plough far money into simple games than would be needed to buy a state of the art console game, and often the console as well. The small or small-ish payments that are made during play are called “micro transactions”. Their commercial success in mobile gaming has led them to start infecting console gaming in full price games, with add-on content being charged for. Children are highly vulnerable to this. The growth of “loot boxes” , virtual randomised items, has come to the attention of a growing number of governments for presenting a problem comparable to that of gambling. They have been been banned in Belgium and The Netherlands, with the list likely to grow.
Gaming habits usually start early in life when there’s generally fewer responsibilities and more free time. But the long hours of play indulged by many young people can become incompatible with work, study and relationships as they grow older. This is where a crunch can come, and addictive or compulsive behaviour can become very problematic: Real life can soon become unmanageable. For all their sophistication, gaming worlds are much simpler than the real world, and offer their rewards much more quickly. If you or someone in your life has a genuine problem, try to be honest and discern how mood, time management, work, appointments and sleep are effected? Is there guilt and shame around gaming binges? Does gaming cause arguments? Are game worlds a big influence on dreams. It’s also important to consider other underlying problems that gaming might be masking. People in recovery often come to realise “It wasn’t the substances / gambling that were the real problem – the real problem was me.” It’s good to know that many gamers can make a habit manageable by tracking and limiting their playing time, using it as a reward for getting chores done, finding balance with other activities, or letting go of a “hard-core gamer” image. The full on abstention sometimes required with substance abuse may not be required, growing out of overindulgence seems more possible. But as with many addictive behaviours, people have to acknowledge the problem in the first place, and preaching isn’t always the best way to make this happen. And in some cases, a more drastic approach is required. There are a growing number of rehabilitation programs on the model usually more associated with drug and alcohol problems. Some people find they do have to cut out gaming completely, in line with the abstentionist approach of 12 Step Programs. The main 12 Step for this problem is Computer Gaming Addicts Anonymous (CGAA). They have very few “real world” meetings but their YouTube channel has some great testimonies of people’s experience that you might find useful if you think you or a loved one has a problem. If you think a child in your life may have a habit that is out of control, try (at least initially) not to lecture, but instead to find out what they like and why, as well as what they think about payment models. Chances are they are much more culturally and economically aware of what’s going on than you, but this doesn’t make them less susceptible to exploitation. Games are of immense importance for many in terms of school and youth social life. It’s understandable that they might not want to feel excluded. Many parents restrict gaming time or use it as a reward. Games are far more sophisticated than in days of PacMan and Space Invaders, and even they famously had people addicted. Sooner or later, Virtual Reality will make a full impact on the market, bringing new risks with new levels of immersion. Problematic video game playing isn’t going away, it’s as well to level up your awareness of the dynamics, signs and solutions.
Take this quiz – Are you addicted to Gaming?
http://www.familiesmanagingmedia.com/video-games-quiz/
We all know what a forlorn effort the New Year’s Resolution can be. Many of us have given up on taking them seriously at all, and stats generally show that a large majority have have failed by early February.
Certainly, grand or vague plans are more likely to fall by the wayside. Typical goal setting advice is that they should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Targeted), and that bigger goals should be broken down into smaller components.
There are routine habits we may wish to build (or abstain from) on a daily or many-times-a-week basis. Typically these are founded around things like exercise, meditation and diet, or giving up / cutting down on smoking or alcohol.
So here’s one resolution that may just rule them all…rather than get vexed about getting the deed done, just try recording if it does get done, and make the measurement the resolution.
That way it’s much less of a “failure” to not run 5km in a week. You can record that you ran, say, 2km and keep on recording as the weeks go buy. Missing out a day of meditation or not drinking alcohol once or twice doesn’t mean the resolution is “broken” (giving part of our mind the excuse to give up). If we measure that we managed 3 or 4 times in a week, and have thus improved on our general average, then the resolution to measure has been totally successful and the desire to improve meditation time or cut down alcohol has also been met, even if not to miraculous levels.
A couple of years ago, I knew I was at risk of a relapse in depression. I decided to measure 3 things daily: Exercise, meditation and music practice. Within a couple of weeks, activities in all 3 areas were improving and my mood lifted accordingly. It’s a pretty standard CBT approach.
Measuring will provide its own motivations for improvement, a motivation that the “magical” date of 1/1 doesn’t always provide, especially as it recedes in the rear view mirror.
Measurement can obviously be done in a variety of ways, such as in a diary, bullet point journal or blank book. Tables can be set up ahead of time. There are also a range of free and paid-for apps to choose for phones and tablets – searching for “habit tracker” should do the trick.
Give it a try, best of luck 🙂
Too many of us know the compulsion: One more YouTube video… a check to see how many Facebook likes were harvested by one of our witticisms… a switch over to the Twitter or Tinder notifications…back to YouTube… In the blink of an eye, a couple of hours have vanished. Our sleep, work or family life are that little bit worse for wear. When such casual distraction becomes routine and systemic, it’s not necessarily addictive in a clinical sense, but it creates neurological activity and symptoms of unmanageability that are typical to addiction. If the first thing we do on waking up is to light a cigarette, we are probably addicted. The same is true if we impulsively reach for the phone within seconds of opening our eyes.
The UK average for staring at a computer, tablet and phone is now nearly 3 1/2 hours a day.
If our mental space is dominated by what we do in cyberspace, the drop in “in real life” wellbeing can be quite marked.
Internet and social media addiction are sometimes described as “soft addictions”: lacking the social stigma and glaring destruction of a habit, but still capable of being ruinous to our mental health.
It’s no secret that aspects of social media behaviour can be neurochemically similar or even identical to aspects of such potentially addictive behaviours as gambling. Much of the gambling buzz isn’t to do with winning or losing as much as it is connected to thoughts and feelings during the race, match or spin of the wheel – the highs and lows of anticipation rather than the result. Similarly, when we post online hoping for approval, we get a dopamine hit for any thumbs up. But 5 minutes without gratification for our humour, insight or glamour can bring on a bit of a crash, so we’re tempted to pull the lever again. Facebook founder Sean Parker is one of many insider whistleblowers to warn about exploitation of our innate psychology
A key difference between social media and other media is that it presents less “stopping cues”, such as the last page of a book or the rolling credits of a film. Scrolling through feeds can literally be infinite, quite unpunctuated and all the more trance-like.
If we are away from the internet for even a short while, craving can subside quickly, but when it is easily at hand we can easily be lured to return due to a nagging “fear of missing out” . Social media can be a classic avoidance strategy from everyday tasks – another parallel with substance misuse and addiction.
We can end up turning to a device, rather than a human, as a coping mechanism for the stresses of modern life. Sadly, there’s no app for strong relationships or work satisfaction.
There is a broader social impact too. A friend of mine recently went backpacking in Thailand for the first time in 20 years. When he’d last been, the backpacking culture was much as it had been since the days of the 1960’s hippy trail. Making friends among Thais and people from all over the world was easy, casual and fun. Much of that thrill has vanished now, so many were the people staring and tapping away at the little glass screen.
Away from that screen, time can be spent mulling over arguments we’ve had with trolls we will never meet, or subtly impacted by those 2D spectacles of unattainable false perfection that are other people’s seemingly more exciting lives. We can invest huge amounts of time, thought and effort into our own “cyber ego”, bearing little relation to our 3D presence and interpersonal skills.
In the context of thousands of years of civilisation and millions of years of evolution, a decade or two of mass internet access has not given us the collective time to properly adapt to its cultural and psychological effects. This is a conversation that needs to continue, as does our own personal reflection on habits.
Business Insider’s Emma Fierberg binned social media for a month. Despite early withdrawal symptoms she reported “My well-being has improved tenfold. My mind has never been so clear. I feel like I’m learning how to properly communicate in a world without social media. I’ve been given more time with my thoughts.”
This article isn’t trying to add to moral panic or invoke the spirit of General Ludd – there are many more good things to say about the rise of social media than there are bad. But if you sense your habit may have gone too far, it can be helpful to observe and reflect on obsession and impulse as they happen, and to be aware of any changes in brain chemistry you feel when engaging (or not engaging after some heavy use)
Is it frustrating or a relief to be away from social media, does it feel like something you are resisting? Do you quickly return to the same or higher levels of engagement after a break?
Can you successfully limit your screen-time? What more enticing activities can take you away from it? As with all things, there’s an art to striking a balance. If you manage to maintain a healthy use of social media, it seems you will be doing better than a growing number of people, your happiness and wellbeing will be more secure. Then you go and tweet about it 😜
Video missing
The one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy, says Brother David Steindl-Rast, a monk and interfaith scholar. And happiness, he suggests, is born from gratitude. An inspiring lesson in slowing down, looking where you’re going, and above all, being grateful.
“Joy is the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright. Great delight. Keen pleasure. Elation. An expression or display of glad feeling. A state of happiness or felicity.”
This is how I define joy today. What a laugh when I think of how far removed it is from my life a few years ago. Felicity was a girl’s name and the only keen pleasure was smoking crack and that glad feeling was fleeting. I lived in fear, any confidence was noisy – a bravado covering a constant state of inner fear. That nothing would be alright. Fear of being found out, fear of not having enough money, fear of losing my 2 children, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of love, fear of life. The only thing I didn’t fear was death. No, I did not know joy.
Yes, I could tell you lots about joylessness and despair. We all have our own personal rock bottoms, hells, nightmares, dark dungeons so I won’t bore you with the details other than chronic drug addiction led to all sorts and devastated those around me.
I wasn’t born that way. I was loved (for the first year) then given away. An early childhood attempt to make sense of the suffering of separation is shame – there’s something wrong with me. As I grew up that shame clouded the bundle of joy I had been – my SPIRIT (true joy is divine in its origin) diminishing as I took on negative thoughts, feelings and behaviours from my primary caregivers. Taking on roles, people, addictions – anything to soothe, anything to connect, anything to feel safe and secure. Our survival depends on it. Trauma (small t or big T) needs soothing. If we don’t have anyone to support us and help us heal our acute childhood experiences (ACE) then we find our own ways to make it feel better. Addiction is a soothing, whatever the flavour of addiction is – food, fantasy, sex, stealing, substances, lying, busyness, shopping. Addiction strips away anything joyful. It creates a disconnect with self and others. So how to get connected?….
Replace fear with faith, a fundamental foundation of recovery from addiction. Having faith and the spiritual principles of honesty, open mindedness and willingness catapult us into what A.A. call the fourth dimension or the sunlight of the spirit. This is my experience. This is where I know joy is. Joy is in the daily appreciation of the tiny and tremendous, gratitude for the life lived.
Joy is in making the heart sing. Make a list and you may find snippets somewhere. My moments of joy this last month: belly laughter being daft with friends and colleagues, looking after and playing with rescued animals, running around with my Bedlington, Bowie, regular injections of music including a Patti Smith gig with my step parents and live Thai rendition of Oasis’ “Stand By Me”, goddess dancing in the Himalayas, protesting for a Free Tibet, white water rafting down the Ganges, drinking virgin pina coladas watching a Goan sunset with my brilliant witchy girlfriend, being coated in luminous bodypaint raving til dawn, sitting in wind and sunshine on Howarth moors, seeing my son laugh, remembering my daughter’s “fuck that shit man” phrase, reading Wuthering Heights (again), eating delicious vegan food, tasting my first batch of homemade kombucha, swimming in a cold river with Bowie, sitting on a huge tree trunk in ancient woods, bat watching snuggled up with an old boyfriend, yelling -hands free – on the back of a bike, dancing with strangers, watching faces soften, smiles, sweetness, silliness, sassiness.
Children find one of four main ways to build their own emotional and spiritual resilience in childhood: creativity, nature, animals and sport.
What are you doing today to build your resilience and bring you joy? What lit you up as a child will light you up today. Choice is yours.
Choose joy.
Em Ferguson
In the UK we’re addicted to distracting ourselves. There’s no distraction more powerful than LOVE.
More often than not, the love addict becomes passionately attracted to someone who is emotionally unavailable, at times withdrawn and unresponsive, or to someone who will disregard or neglect the relationship.
So then, how do you know if you, or the person you’re dating is a love addict? Here are a few signs…
Here Alan Robarge explains more about love addiction and the connection to attachment injury. He talks about trauma being defined according to
each person’s nervous system and their own level and degree of overwhelm.
Recent research shows that group singing is providing positive effects for women experiencing moderate to severe post-natal depression. Findings suggest that mothers attending groups with their babies, singing various songs, rhymes and chants from around the world, (and composing or creating their own!) experience accelerated recovery in the first six weeks of receiving support for low mood.
Love of music is the backbone of JoyProvision. We utilize sound and music in creating and delivering our courses and programmes. Why wouldn’t we? Humans have made connections, meaning and shared collective knowledge and wisdom through rhythm and song for over 50,000 years.
As the industrialization of entertainment progressed, a lot of us stopped making music after we left school. We left it to the ‘professionals’. Sure, there’s whistling while you work, or singing in the shower – but until the X Factor, Indie music, Creative Commons and other distribution methods, we had left it to the celebs and corporations to sing for us.
But since the Glee revival, Rock Choirs, and other musical collectives sang their way back into the limelight, once more we can all have a go at singing and performing together! (Jazz Hands here!). From Power Ballad nights at clubs, to recording your own tracks on your phone, song-making is available and the joy of creating and singing together is ours again.
Best of all, for women struggling with how they feel about life post partum, there’s a joyous alternative to antidepressants and cognitive behavioural therapy. Thanks to the innovative research of Rosie Perkins and Dr Daisy Fancourt at the Royal College of Music’s Centre Of Performance Science, with University College London, it looks like we are on song again for creativity in the mix. Group singing at the core of life – new mothers singing alongside others with their children at the start of their journey together. Make some noise people – for positivity and joy in musical approaches to maternal mental health.
Helpful Resources
Search for a local ‘Mother and Baby Choir’, or ‘Mother and Baby Singing Group’
Jo Jingles Nationwide Music, Singing And Movement Classes (recommended by Mumsnet)
**Check suitability with their staff if you are feeling very low before attending. Check with your GP **
NHS Choices – Post Natal Depression
PANDAS – PANDAS Foundation UK
Research
Interview – Dr Daisy Fancourt:
Sing Now!
Lullabies
We Got a Brand new baby?
What’s the secret to happiness: to have more control, or to see what googly life throws at you and take it as it comes? Professor Raj Raghunathan shares his unusual perspective on happiness, starting with a story about the man who got everything he wanted. Shah Rukh Khan joins him onstage to share his own perspective on a happy life.
Raj Raghunathan · Happiness researcher, author
Raj Raghunathan a professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. He has a PhD from Stern School of Business, New York University and a BE in Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani.
His key areas of research are happiness maximization and consumer well-being, decision making and hedonic and utilitarian consumption.