Getting treatment for gaming addiction is an expensive, arduous task in the US.
Even with the World Health Organization classifying video game addiction as a mental disorder, there is still much debate as to whether an addiction to video games should still be a considered a serious concern or not.
Gaming Disorder Cannot Be Diagnosed In The US
A report on NPR explains that therapists are very concerned about technology addiction among adolescents, and that it’s hard to find the right treatment for it in the United States.
NPRfocused on a treatment facility in Minnesota, where Dr. Shalene Kennedy claims that 75% of the adolescents they work with are using too much technology. Even with the World Health Organization declaring video game addiction a mental disorder earlier this year, an individual can’t be officially diagnosed with having a gaming or technology addiction in the U.S.
Finding gaming addiction treatment for adolescents can be particularly difficult in the U.S. Trish Vanni, a pastor from Minnesota, tried to get her son into treatment for gaming addiction, and she said it was “a wasteland of help, an absolute wasteland. It was so frustrating. He couldn’t even leave the house, couldn’t hold a job, couldn’t be responsible for his rent and to his roommates.”
Some Experts Believe Gaming Addiction To Be An Underlying Symptom Of A Mental Health Issue
Some experts believe that video game addiction can be an underlying symptom of depression or anxiety or even another addiction. Vanni says her friends would assuage her concerns by noting that her son “could be addicted to drugs.” Vanni soldiered on looking for treatment as his addiction became more “acute.”
Trying to find treatment across the country, there were only a few retreats that met her son’s needs but they came at a high cost, with treatment plans costing tens of thousands of dollars.
Finally, she was able to connect her son with Julian Sheats, a man from St. Paul who overcame a gaming habit. Sheats and Vanni’s son work the 12-step program, and Sheats feels if gaming addiction could be properly diagnosed in the U.S., it would make it a lot easier for people to get help for it.
“It’s not something you have to be confused about or feel like an outsider about,” Sheats explains. “Rather, you just have a medical condition just as much as if you had rheumatoid arthritis, I think would relieve a lot of the stress of these young individuals.”
Paternal post-natal depression affects around 10% of fathers.
Postpartum depression is commonly thought of as a women’s issue but a number of scientific studies have revealed that men can also be affected by the disorder. On recent episode of Today, one parent has come forward about his struggles with postpartum depression after his wife gave birth to their son.
As Zavo Gabriel told Today, his wife Annie went through a difficult birth of their child. She was in labor for 36-hours, and the doctor had to use the forceps in the delivery.
“It was really difficult for me seeing the look on her face when she was pushing the hardest,” he explains. “She was screaming and making these noises, which sounded like someone pushing for her life.”
Once Gabriel’s son was born, he started having “multiple panic attacks a day,” and he had to distance himself from the family for some time.
“I was a total wreck,” he confessed. “Annie’s mom had to step in and be the co-parent for those first few weeks.”
According to research, about 10% of fathers can suffer from postpartum depression. As a source at Northwestern University explains, “The estimate is higher than depression in the normal population. A father’s depression has a direct link to the child. It definitely impacts the whole family’s health.”
And the same factors that can cause postpartum depression in women can affect men as well, whether it’s a history of mental illness, more stress in your personal life, sleep deprivation, or changes in your hormonal chemistry. Men can experience a drop in their testosterone levels, which can lead to depression once they become fathers.
As one source told Today, postpartum depression in men “shouldn’t be belittled. We need to change the culture of what masculinity is and be more inclusive about why fathers’ experiences matter.” Dads don’t get screened for postpartum depression as much as women, and they’re often afraid of the stigma surrounding the condition, which often prevents them from getting the help they need.
Gabriel did finally seek help, completing six weeks of outpatient therapy, and he’s still attending therapy while raising his son. “All I wanted was to get back to Annie and start this life as a family,” he says.
The prolific comedian entered rehab after a 1997 DUI arrest and has been sober since.
Tim Allen has had a lot of success in his career with his hit shows Home Improvement and Last Man Standing, and he’s also had success on the big screen with the SantaClause comedies, Galaxy Quest, and for providing the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story movies. But he’s celebrating an even greater success these days, which is marking over two decades of sobriety.
Allen told Parade, “To be perfectly frank, I’m going on 21 years sober. That’s the biggest blessing in my life.”
Allen went through a terrible trauma when he lost his father at the age of 11. “When my dad was killed, we had a priest that said, ‘He’s in a better place,’ and I kind of snapped, like, ‘What are we doing here, then?!’”
Before he became famous, Allen did nearly two and a half years in federal prison for cocaine possession. Allen told the Washington Times, “It was a watershed moment. It put me in a position of great humility and I was able to make amends to friends and family and refocus my life on setting and achieving goals.”
Allen turned to comedy after getting out of jail in 1981. The Toy Story star called comedy his “coping mechanism. It always has been.”
After Allen got busted for a DUI in 1997, he checked into rehab, and has been sober ever since. He told the Huffington Post, “For me, I was done! I was just done! And I didn’t know where to turn. A physician friend of mine told me a long time ago, you’ve just got to ask for help…if you need help, it’s the first thing you go to in the phone book, and it’s free. It’s a program that’s always got its doors open, there are no dues or fee.”
Allen added, “It is a disease of the soul and the mind, and it will tear up the people around you. It’s a matter of hitting a personal bottom…I was tired of my excuses, I was tired of the shame and the guilt…so much energy to manage it. It was unmanageable. I sat there [and] I said to whatever God that was watching over me: ‘Help me! I will do what you want.’ I’m a guy who doesn’t like ‘organized’ anything but AA is just brilliant to me.”
The Game of Thrones actress has been open about her struggles with depression in the past.
Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones plays Jean Grey in the new X-Men film Dark Phoenix. In researching the role, Turner spent nine months taking an extensive look into mental illness to prepare.
As Us Weekly reports, Simon Kinberg, the director of Dark Phoenix, sat down with Turner and told her, “Look. This is the story. You know it from the comics. I need you to fully inhabit this sense of losing control, losing your sanity. I need it to feel real… I sent her books, articles and videos about people suffering from schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, multiple personality disorder.”
In preparing for the role, Turner walked around London and New York, wearing earphones, listening to recorded voices to try and understand what it would be like to live with schizophrenia.
As Turner told Glamour, “When Simon told me about the plot, we decided the things Jean was going through were not unlike schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder. And so we sent each other documents back and forth—essays, documentaries, all sorts of videos. We really got into it… How the situation affects the X-Men and the people around her is not unlike how addiction affects the people around that person. So we delved into studying those particular subjects.”
“Sophie knew some people that had struggled with similar types of mental health issues,” Kinberg said. “So we would just talk it through and try to find a way for everything in this movie that is supernatural and fantastical to be grounded in something real.”
James McAvoy, who plays Professor Charles Xavier, also told Glamour, “I was excited that mental health was such a massive part of the exploration of the character. It’s about somebody’s mental health, but also a family trying to deal with it.”
Tye Sheridan, who plays Cyclops, added, “I think it’s important, especially in superhero movies, to portray these characters with real problems. I think a lot of people look up to a superhero. You want, as a fan or as someone watching these movies, to believe that you could be like that person… It allows you to believe in growth and the betterment of your person.”
As it turns out, Turner has had her own mental health struggles as well. She recently revealed to Dr. Phil, “I’ve suffered with depression for about five or six years now, and the biggest challenge for me is just getting out of bed, getting out of the house and learning to love yourself.”
Brian Wilson not only has a long history of making incredible music with the Beach Boys, he also has a lengthy history of living with mental health issues that he’s had to grapple with most of his adult life.
Now Wilson has announced that he’s postponing an upcoming tour to take care of his mental health.
As People reports, Wilson was scheduled to hit the road this summer, and he told his fans through his website, “I had every intention to do these shows and was excited to get back to performing. I’ve been in the studio recording and rehearsing with my band and have been feeling better. But then it crept back and I’ve been struggling with stuff in my head and saying things I don’t mean and I don’t know why. It’s something I’ve never dealt with before and we can’t quite figure it out just yet.”
Wilson added, “It is no secret that I have been living with mental illness for many decades. There were times when it was unbearable but with doctors and medications I have been able to live a wonderful, healthy and productive life with support from my family, friends and fans who have helped me through this journey.”
After a recent back surgery, Wilson said, “I started feeling strange and it’s been pretty scary for a while. I was not feeling like myself. Mentally insecure is how I’d describe it.”
Yet Wilson promised he’d be back soon. “I’m going to rest, recover and work with my doctors on this. I’m looking forward to my recovery and seeing everyone later in the year. The music and my fans keep me going and I know this will be something I can AGAIN overcome.”
Wilson reportedly lives with schizoaffective disorder, a condition where one experiences symptoms of schizophrenia as well as a mood disorder. Wilson had endured childhood abuse at the hands of a cruel father, Murry Wilson, and eventually he started hearing voices in his head that told him he was “weak” and “worthless.”
Wilson told Rolling Stone that he felt his mental health problems came from taking “bad drugs. I’ve told a lot of people don’t take psychedelic drugs. It’s mentally dangerous to take. I regret having taken LSD. It’s a bad drug.”
“No matter where he was in the world, he picked up, left me messages, he sent me cards,” Moody said of the Judas Priest singer.
Ivan Moody, the lead singer of the metal band Five Finger Death Punch, has had a hard road to achieving sobriety, but he currently counts metal legend Rob Halford as one of his sober supporters, as well as Jonathan Davis from Korn.
As Moody explained on The Jasta Show, “Rob is actually one of my—and I hate to put it this way—sober coaches. He’s been sober now for almost forty years. And when I went through recovery, and even my bandmates and I weren’t talking, Halford was on the phone with me. I got two 10-minute phone calls a day, and Halford was one of them every single day. No matter where he was in the world, he picked up, left me messages, he sent me cards.”
Moody added that “Jonathan Davis was the same way—he was very supportive of me.”
Halford is considered one of the best in the genre. Moody said, “This was coming from a kid who grew up on Judas Priest and I’m turning around and this guy is a father to me in certain ways, and very much a piece of who I am now.”
Moody went on to tell Jasta he was “never very orthodox with [my] sobriety. Neither was J.D. or Rob, which, again, that’s what I really appreciate. I don’t go to a lot of meetings. I respect it, and I understand why other people used [them] and benefitted from [it], but for me personally, it’s just not what I need. So that was something I always looked to with guys like J.D. and Rob… that wasn’t my path and I didn’t need it.”
Moody has reportedly been to rehab five times, and came close to death from an alcohol-related seizure. After that experience, Moody recalled, “I knew I was done during my detox. It took me seven and a half days just to detox. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t go to the bathroom by myself, I couldn’t smoke a cigarette. I had a staff member actually sleep in the room with me for the first 28 hours just to make sure I didn’t go under. I blew a .36 when I went in, which anyone who knows anything knows means that was basically death. And I didn’t want to come out of it. I woke up the next day and I [was] pissed that I was still alive.”
Moody ultimately realized he didn’t want his legacy to be dying from substance abuse.
“I listen to a Linkin Park song now and I can hear [Chester Bennington] crying for help. Why did it take us so long to hear that? I want people to hear my lyrics or my melodies and say ‘that dude’s in pain.’ Or ‘that guy’s victorious over something—he overcame that substance.’”
Quinto recently went on Instagram to celebrate his sober milestone.
Actor Zachary Quinto, known for playing Spock in the Star Trek reebot, opened up about his sobriety on Instagram and says he hopes that his honesty will encourage others to stay the course as well.
Quinto announced on Instagram on May 24 that he has hit his three-year sober landmark. “I guess I wrote the right jumper for the occasion, when I think about how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown and how much more I love myself…I’m really blown away.”
Quinto, who is currently starring in the horror series NOS4A2, continued that he’s “very far from perfect – but perfectly flawed. And Working every day to honor and realize my full potential. Three years ago I had lost a connection to gratitude almost entirely. Today I am brimming with it. For this touchstone. For life’s abundance. For true friends. For support. For the sweet freedom of this journey. May it continue with compassion – curiosity – honesty and above all…LOVE.”
As Quinto said on The Today Show, “I felt like there was… I was very proud of that accomplishment for myself. To share my experience and to encourage other people who are interested in that journey for themselves is something that I have a real privilege to be able to do. I felt like it was a moment where I wanted to take that opportunity, and just acknowledge that my experience in life is entirely different now than it was three years ago, and I couldn’t be more grateful and happier for that.”
This year Quinto also appeared at a Q&A for the Rubin Museum with Dr. Judith Grisel called “The Power of Addiction.” Quinto lost his father when he was seven, but he had a fairly stable upbringing all things considered.
“I didn’t have my first drink until I was 17 or 18,” he said. “And I didn’t smoke pot until I was around the same age… It wasn’t until I achieved a certain level of success that I began to drink problematically. Into my thirties, the things I had been fighting for, I got. I was at events with open bars all the time, drinking became a socially accepted way to navigate those rooms.”
Quinto said, “I was just so miserable. I looked around at my life and said, ‘There’s no reason for me to be this unhappy.’ The most glaring component that was missing from my life was gratitude. I couldn’t be grateful, and I had so much for which to be grateful. I didn’t lose everything, I didn’t ruin relationships, I had what I think people refer to as a high bottom. There was one day when I was like, I can’t do this anymore.”
We wanted to do something that gave addicts a feeling that they weren’t alone, that they were in the company of people who had been through what they had been through, and also have a few laughs.
Dopey podcast has been around since early 2016, and it has a steadily growing audience of people from all across the spectrum of addiction. In addition to appealing to people in recovery, it draws in people who need help, and those who have family members suffering from addiction.
As Dr. Drew told The Fixlast year, “If you’re an addict and you listen to Dopey, you will find your people and your story here. Listen to it, and you’ll see what I mean.”
Dopey attracts fascinating guests: recent episodes have featured Artie Lange, Dr. Drew, Marc Maron, Jamie Lee Curtis, gossip columnist AJ Benza, Justin Kreutzmann from the Grateful Dead, Amy Dresner, and others discussing a wide variety of topics such as Game of Thrones, seizures, booze, pills, cocaine, heroin, and more.
These days, it seems that practically everybody has a podcast. But when Dave and Chris created Dopey, they didn’t have a master plan to be the dominant podcast on addiction and recovery. Initially they were big fans of the Howard Stern Show and wanted to create something similar, but with two people who had experienced addiction and recovery at the helm.
Dave met Chris at Connecticut’s Mountainside Treatment Center in 2011. They kept in touch after getting out, eventually launching the podcast. At Dopey’s inception, Chris had a year and a half of sobriety under his belt, and Dave had three months.
Dave and Chris didn’t know where Dopey belonged in the podcast landscape because as Dave explains, “I didn’t even know what a podcast was back then. A friend of mine told me I should do a podcast. I didn’t know anything about them, I just knew I liked radio, I loved the Howard Stern show, and I thought this was an opportunity to do a show like it. I still barely know anything about podcasts!”
People who have struggled with addiction often have hilarious, insane, and unbelievable stories of the misadventures they get into when they’re high, and Dave and Chris wanted to share those stories on their podcast.
“Originally the show wasn’t going to be about recovery at all,” Dave explains. “At first I thought it would be funny to do a podcast about the dumbest stuff that we had done in our addiction. That was the idea, and we stuck with that until we recorded an episode where we talked about some of the dumb things we had done, and I realized that we had to say we were in recovery, otherwise we’d be championing drug use. It was never supposed to be a recovery podcast; it became one and the recovery had to be part of the show to keep our conscience clear.”
Dave adds that with the Dopey podcast, “We wanted to do something that gave addicts a feeling that they weren’t alone, that they were in the company of people who had been through what they had been through, and also have a few laughs. That was the idea…The show was mostly about the ridiculous stuff we had done, all the money it cost us, the life it cost us, and it was our pain and ridiculous decisions that were helping other people from making (the same) decisions.”
It turns out that humor was a powerful draw, bringing listeners to the show. “Chris had a great phrase for that called the ‘rope-a-dope,’ where you’d rope-a-dope people into recovery through the debauchery. We wound up helping people as a byproduct of the show.”
Dave is happy that Dopey is giving the world a realistic portrait of people suffering from addiction. “When you watch TV and see addiction commercials, it doesn’t really portray it in a real way. I’m very proud that Dopey did that. If you listen to the show, you hear about real people, and you really get to know what addicts are like. And when I say that, [I mean] they’re like everybody, they’re just unfortunately dependent on drugs and make terrible decisions. I do feel very, very good in playing a part in de-stigmatizing addiction and showing the world what addicts are really like.”
You don’t usually hear about humor as a treatment for addiction, but Dave realized it was an important tool in his recovery arsenal.
“For me, humor is just a tremendous part of my life, and I like to see the dark, funny side of things. I don’t think a sense of humor is required to get sober, but I think it’s an amazingly helpful tool if humor makes you feel good. There’s a lot of weirdos out there who don’t have a sense of humor. They can still get sober, but I think if you have a sense of humor, it’s a great tool in recovery. Chris and I discovered that to take away the stigma, there’s nothing better than to laugh at yourself. If you can laugh at yourself, chances are you can get better.”
The Dopey audience grew larger in response to a recent episode of This American Life that featured the podcast in-depth. But as this new and larger group of listeners began to tune in, Dopey suffered a tremendous blow. Chris relapsed and died on July 24, 2018 at the age of 33. (Chris had nearly five years of sobriety and was working on becoming a clinical psychologist at the time of his death.) Then Dave took another hit when he lost Todd, a close friend.
“I think the show really started to change when Todd died,” Dave says. “Todd was somebody I had known since I was 19, and I used more drugs with him than anyone else. He died six or seven weeks before Chris died, and it was in those six or seven weeks that I started to change the way I wanted the show to be. I just couldn’t laugh with a clear conscience in the same way because my friend had just died.”
The show revolved around Chris’ death “for a good five or six weeks. It was a very sober, very sad, freaked-out time to try and get some sort of vibe back. In a way, it was like, the show must go on. We had an audience, and we had an audience of people who benefitted from the show. I did not want the show to fall apart because Chris had died.”
Dave didn’t realize it at the time, but by pushing forward with the show after the deaths of Chris and Todd, he unintentionally showed his audience how to keep moving forward after a tragedy without using drugs or drinking.
“When Chris died, I was torn apart. I’m still incredibly upset about it. [But] I think in the end, his death carried a message of recovery. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I heard a lot of feedback over this, and continuing the show after Chris died made people understand that they can stay sober through adversity, heartache and loss.”
When Chris was alive, he and Dave often talked about their ambitions for the show, and Dave still feels Dopey could be “a monster. I still think it can be bigger because there are so many people that are affected by addiction. That’s just one piece of it. The other piece of it is stories around drug addiction are so entertaining, and if you put those two things together, the audience could just be gigantic.”
As Dopey continues to grow, reaching an ever-widening and changing listenership, Dave’s hopes for the podcast’s future don’t seem so outlandish:
“I want it to be the biggest thing in the world, I want it to cross over in a major way where Robert Downey Jr.’s on it, where Eric Clapton’s playing “Layla” on the show, I want it to be as big as it can be.”
