Mindful and Compassionate Solutions to Internet Gaming Addiction
A Guide for Parents and Therapists (and Gamers, if You Dare!)
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“If you find this hard, if you find that you dislike, hate, fear, or have other feelings about gaming that make it really hard to show interest, explore that further. Are you afraid something bad will happen if they get too involved in, or addicted to gaming? What do you fear will happen - what is your worst fear? Are you upset because they are not spending more time with you, or the family? Are you angry because they are not doing their homework or chores, or because they act rude or disrespectful when you ask them to stop or express concern about their gaming? Do you notice guilt, like somehow you are to blame, like it’s your fault? Or similarly, do you feel shame, like you have failed as a parent or something is wrong with you? Take time to really explore - always as mindfully and self-compassionately as possible - what you are feeling and thinking, what your reactions are. Try not to judge what you notice, just “be with it”- believe it or not there are no “bad” feelings, they just “are” and there is always some reason we have them - this is so important that let’s take a moment to reflect on this.”