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Posted (edited)

Ok so I've been on these forums on and off since 2018. They've helped me a lot to deal with my gaming addiction. It's not gone, but I manage it a lot better and my relapses are shorter and less damaging. Longest streak off of games has been 14 months! (edit: checked my journal on here and it was actually 18 months!)

I don't think I'm the typical GQ gamer. I don't do online games at ALL, my jam is single player stuff - grand strategy, city building, that kinda thing. I don't have gamer friends, I've never been part of a guild/clan/whatever. So your mileage may vary.

But a few weeks ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD (combined presentation) at 35 years of age.

And damn, it explains so much.

ADHD comes with low dopamine, so dopamine-boosting behaviors (games, shows... drugs) are particularly addictive for us. In fact, people with ADHD are far more likely to get addicted to substances... and my guess would be it's the same for gaming, too.

I haven't really seen this side of mental health discussed on these forums much (although to be fair, I've been away from this community for a while now, so maybe things have changed). For a long time, I wondered why I was so easily addicted to this stuff when those around me found it no problem to stay away from games if they needed to.

Well, now I know.

Posting this so that others may benefit from it. Check yourself for ADHD symptoms. You don't have to be physically hyper to have it.

Once you understand how your brain works, you can then actually work with it to improve. There are a bunch of things out there for ADHD that can make a huge difference. Not just meds, but those too.

Hope this helps some people out.

Edited by karabas
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  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)

I also suspect ADHD and also suspect Asperger syndrome (or Autism spectrum disorder in DSM5). Going to pshchological testing in July.

Edited by Gafsi
  • Like 1
Posted

Same story here! Grand Strategy single player, same two or three games compulsively. I don't have an official diagnosis yet (ADHD gatekeeping is nuts) but I'm starting with some light meds, been a life-changer so far. Now I barely come here (and supposedly I'm a mod, eeep) but I just had to tell you, you're not alone in this!

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Posted

It is likely that both ADHD (impulse control, inatention, need for stimulation) and Asperger (obsessive interests and poor social life) are great predispositions for game addiction.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

My collegue has ADHD and while she doesn't game all the time she REALLY gets into it when she does. She even brings her portable gaming device to work so she can play whenever she has a break. Sometimes she even games during work time, if we don't have a lot of customers.

I'm autistic and this has played a big role in my addcition as well. I have lots of compulsive behaviours and I get very stressed out by certain routines not performing the way I want. This behaviour made me restart games almost endlessly in order to reach some form of perfection and the ultimate feeling of fulfillment. As soon as I thought about a game I instantly thought about how to organize things in it or make the "perfect run". It was very exhausting and time consuming to say the least and just like you gaming is what brought me to investigate if I had some sort of diagnose. Turns out I did and with this knowledge the step to quit became even more crucial. I've also looked back on many instances in the past where I've felt defeated by games and they have mostly all been related to my compulsive behaviours. It's just so fascinating that it took SO long for me to realize this and finally reach the core of my issue. But hey, better late than never, right?

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Posted
On 6/28/2024 at 2:31 PM, Wildermyth said:

This behaviour made me restart games almost endlessly in order to reach some form of perfection and the ultimate feeling of fulfillment. As soon as I thought about a game I instantly thought about how to organize things in it or make the "perfect run". It was very exhausting and time consuming to say the least and just like you gaming is what brought me to investigate if I had some sort of diagnose.

This! In the games that allowed it, of course. But I really spent many hours doing exactly what you described.

  • Like 1
  • 2 months later...
Posted

I have ADHD as well... for me my addictive behavior is at my worst with online forums.

Hehe yeah I know it's ironic that I have to find online support groups whilst being addicted to online forums. But here I am. Limiting my time to 30min a day.

Anyways, posting here to say I get the ADHD struggle. Doing things you like is very easy, things you don't like feel like torture.

  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)

It's been several months since you made this post but I'm glad you did.  I'm not an expert at all but I always thought that addiction was a behavioral component that often comes with various mental health issues; i.e., I believe addiction is symptomatic of something deeper, left untreated.  Some recovering/recovered alcoholics in my family seem to think drinking was their only problem but everyone else around them begs to differ.  My dad, for example, like many of his generation, is the victim of violent abuse by authority figures growing up in the 1950s and 60s.  Even though he did stop drinking 40+ years ago, he never stopped having outbursts of anger, an obsession for control driven by the fear of severe consequences, for the simplest mistakes.  Classic PTSD in my unqualified opinion.  I wish he got some help in that regard (e.g., anger management and/or family therapy) something on top of or parallel to the help he got for his drinking.

I am glad to hear you found your "underlying issue" and I hope the treatment you are getting is serving you well.  It's not easy, you may not be "cured" but after several months or years, you can tell that in some ways you are a different person on more than just a behavioral level.  I struggle with BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder), which is often comorbid with or misdiagnosed as ADHD and/or ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).  Obsessively gaming (amongst other things) is just the surface, my temporary "escape", from my intense emotions; I can't effectively quit gaming without learning how to deal with (i.e., live with) my emotions.  I am slowly but surely learning how to do this.

I am glad I found your post and committed to responding, despite how "old" it is (in internet years 😛).  I was going through intense cravings, but I knew gaming - solo, for hours on end - couldn't satisfy me; I knew that going down that path again would just delay my suffering/dissatisfaction.  I took some deep breaths, caressed myself a little (self-compassion), came here, and found your post instead.  Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings on this discovery.  I don't remember what words exactly but the general lesson I got recently from the influential Zen Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh: May we bless the moments of mindfulness with a smile.  There is no shame, only wonder, in our ability to further our understanding, to practice compassion, for ourselves and each other.

Peace out.

Edited by pdallair91
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