i agree whole heartly that gaming is a great inspiration. For many people it is a ray of light in a world where just about everything else is horrible.
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I have great sympathy with anyone who is in the bad place to contemplate suicide. No judgement on the guy and I'm glad he's doing better and wish him well. However I actually hate articles like this. Big websites publish them to 'prove' the power of gaming. Like all those articles about how playing a game healed a relationship or a marriage or mended a friendship. These websites like these stories because they selfishly use them to prove gaming is mature, yet these same websites complain when there is a game with mature content.
I understand why they would want to publicise this but, even if 'Derek' is a pseudonym his story should have been kept private. Gamesradar have acted irresponsibly by humouring him in believing that playing a game can cure him. Zelda is not enough, the reality is he will still need a lot of love and real world assistance to help him get through this.
I actually didnt read the article at all because I am sure they played it up on the heavy dramatic side but i know that individuals are affected in their own ways as well. Im sure the article took it to a cringy place but games do affect people and can be come a driving force for people in many different ways.
Did you read the article? Your takeaway makes it seem as if you didn't even skim through, some of the things that you have mentioned are actually in the story.
I would think something like this would just be a temporary relief from their depression. Sort of a calm in the storm thing. Having known people that deal with depression, there are times when an outside stimulus will help them feel better for a while, but eventually, the world will weigh them down again.
Taking everything at face value, I'm glad someone was able to find some relief, but at the same time, they should probably seek more professional help to help them overcome it without the need to have an external stimulus, or possibly take some medication to help them.
Assuming everything is all good after such a short period of time can be worse than not having a relief, as it sets up a false sense of security, where a regression can actually make the person feel worse than before.
At best, I feel gaming can be therapeutic when looked at in the broader picture, but shouldn't be considered a treatment. No professional therapist would think that one thing would cure depression. It's a complex psychological thing that requires guidance. Typically, there is more required to actually cure it for the long term, and more often than not, it's more about treating the symptoms than curing the disease, as many people don't actually recover fully.
In short, it's very rare where a single stimulus will cure someone of depression, and those kinds of things tend to be epiphany moments which allow a person to accept the problem and wish to become better. However, that moment of clarity isn't a cure, and it typically requires quite an effort to overcome it on a personal level. If the person didn't have to work to be better, then I question if they were really clinically depressed.
More often than not when I hear people say they're depressed, they are just mopey and sad a lot, but not actually depressed. Not saying that's the case here as the author claimed to be suicidal, but that's just what I've noticed, and a lot of people seem to self-diagnose themselves and simply assume they are depressed, instead of just being unable to deal with their troubles in life.
In the article, he makes it very clear that BotW did not save him. It provided an outlet for escapism through a character which he draws some parallels to life's difficulties. The article quotes a doctor who says escapism can be helpful for people with depression. You could probably substitute many different types of distractions which provide a form of escapism. I have no problems with a site publishing such articles. Gaming is no cure for clinical depression but if someone out there has similar feelings and wonders why gaming makes them feel even slightly better then at least they may understand why that is so. Websites do not need to prove gaming is mature. It's just a form of interactive entertainment which is a business. No harm was done here publishing such an article.
I'd say the same thing. I even used an example with the last Of Us in one of my comments.....this person needs real help.
Relax bud, not everything is about Nintendo vs Sony vs MS etc. Can you seriously not talk about any subject without thinking its part of some agenda? lol
Do you have depression? No? Then obviously you don't know what it's like.
Maybe he is getting help...but a psychologist can't be there all the time in between and when that happens you find whatever you can to get you through one more day through your empty life. It's better then drinking yourself silly or getting high off a number of high end drugs.
No one has read the article and are jumping to conclusions thinking they are all qualified psychologists. Typical "I don't have it but I know what's best" attitudes.
I respect a person who publicly show concern for those who have depression. I tell ya Fox personally if my buddy Jason did not come by each Wednesday to play he would suffer Deeply in depression. no escape from loneliness, barely able to hold down a job. as his only friend I feel obligated to help him.
It's good AND bad. It can help you through hard times, as it has me. During the darkest time of my life, it helped to pull me through, and at least helped me to learn to be happy again. It is an amazing way to escape reality. BUT, you cannot get stuck there, which also happened to me.
It's great as a brief respite, but no matter how tough things get, we are supposed to be down, struggle etc. at times, as it teaches us to deal with uncomfortable moments, inspiring us to make changes or move past things. The old cliche, ya can't have joy without pain is so damn true.
I still play games a lot, but I never let them interfere with life, no matter how bad it might be going. It's like a whisky before bed. It's great to relax and forget, but ya can't drink all day, everyday without really paying for it later on.
No kidding. I find when I'm playing games the most it's because I'm depressed and don't feel like being around people which is what I should actually be doing.
Using games to escape from the real world is not healthy if you're neglecting other important things.
The escape can be good at times I think. However, games(or whatever else may influence a person's mental state) should be looked at as just one way to help people cope, but not as a singular cure.
While I wish the person the best if he is depressed, and glad at least someone recognized his depression other than himself(which is usually a big problem in itself) through gaming, it could be disastrous to assume this person is all good now because of a single game. Those that care about him should maybe look into getting him professional help if he's been open about it, as if he thinks he's cured, then he's recognized the problem.
But generally with these sort of things, the recognition(usually coming from a pivotal moments which could be from this game perhaps), is only the first step to a much larger journey to becoming more able to cope with life.
The game itself won't be around for ever, and if it becomes a substitute for living because of any regression back to a depressed state(or another game perhaps), then it's what I feel would be what you are talking about....which would be using games to escape the real world, leading to an unhealthy state where things continuously becoming less of a coping mechanism, and more a substitute which eventually can't satiate the needs the person actually have.
To put it in perspective, people who are clinically depressed take years of therapy, and often a lifetime of medications to help them cope. It's extremely rare for an individual to simply be better in the span of 7 months(time since game released). It would certainly be impossible to say if this person is actually cured within that time frame, as such things take observation and discussion with people who are actually able to diagnose depression, and not one's own current viewpoint, or the viewpoint of others who seem to have little knowledge of how depression effects a person, and how it can ebb and flow to any number of outside influences.
Agreed, As good as this story was to read, I can't help but feel the game is just providing him a temporary form of escape. Once that game is done and over, you're right back to square one. And even then, it's not doing anything good for you in the long run, despite how harmless it may feel.
i agree whole heartly that gaming is a great inspiration. For many people it is a ray of light in a world where just about everything else is horrible.
A video game is not a sustainable help in life. He should get real help asap.
damn bro this guy needs a chill pill.
I was depressed and then pokemon saved me ... go nintendo!!... not