Hi, I'm Linds and as a 41 year old stay at home mom with a special needs child I'm probably not what comes to mind when most people think of an addicted gamer. 

I've been gaming for a decade now, and it has got to the point that I am playing games or compulsively web surfing all day every day now. I have very severe social anxiety and even writing this and posting to a forum is very hard for me. I don't interact with others in games or ever join a guild. I also have pretty severe depression now and I'm not too sure what came first, the social anxiety, the depression or the gaming.

My husband is also a gamer which I think may make this much harder. I'm not sure how he is going to react when suddenly I'm not sat there each night next to him playing games. We don't even play together, just each of us sat side by side, staring at a screen, playing our own game!

I do know that I game to escape, to numb my feelings and to avoid looking at the state of my life that I feel powerless to change. But I guess I've hit rock bottom. Hopefully the only way from here is up. 

Hi Linds

As someone who used to suffer from social anxiety as well, I know it can be rough and depressing to deal with. You say that it's very hard for you to post on the forum, but you just did that, so that's already a step forward  . I guess that makes it more difficult when you're husband is also a gamer, but if you explain this to him, he will probably understand and who knows, he might also want to quit. 

Good luck!!

Thanks Federer. Looking back I think I've always had some social anxiety, but I never let that get in the way of my life. It used to be pretty mild. So I'm determined to get through this. I am going to talk to my husband tonight and at least give him a heads up on what I'm doing, but I am hopeful he might join in. 

Hi Linds! Thanks for joining us here.

There are many more 30+ and female in this community than people realize sometimes. I'm happy you found us and we are here to help in any way we can!

Linds,... you are brave.

Linds ... you hold on, everything will be fine