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Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

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Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#31

Post by knodi123 »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #15
hirundo wrote: post #7

I think it would be useful to play a simulation of cancer treatment that includes realistic odds of survival. It's difficult to grok the idea that you have an X% chance of surviving for Y months by just looking at the numbers, or that Z treatment will affect those odds for some cost in extra misery. Simulating the meaning of those odds by gameplay, watching your avatars live and die, suffering more or less, could giv…

"Chemotherapy simulator" seems like a bit depressing game.

Not all games are meant to be a joyful memory. It's just an art form, as versatile as any other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_(board_game)

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#32

Post by teachrdan »

quartz wrote: post #16
VyseofArcadia wrote: post #11

Different take on the headline: when I was little and scared at the doctor, my mom would distract me from shots etc. by telling me about how they work and all the science behind them. I still do this at the doctor if I'm nervous about the procedure. Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on. Even if you're wrong, it's a distraction and a good exercise, and maybe you can ask…

I have a dentist who loves to use the little remote camera to show me everything about my teeth and let me tell you: it doesn't make it any better! Totally agree on the "understand to remove fear" side of things though. When I was learning stick shift I had a terrible time until, frustrated after I had stalled the car for the umpteenth time, my dad stopped the lesson on "what to do" and instead spent a few minutes ex…

My father in law was a tennis coach. When a kid kept screwing something up, he'd stop them and ask in quick succession: "What's the capital of Illinois? Texas? Vermont?"

The kid would then, invariably, be able to hit the ball again. Sometimes all you need is a focused distraction to be able to perform.

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#33

Post by ashleyn »

VyseofArcadia wrote: post #11

Different take on the headline: when I was little and scared at the doctor, my mom would distract me from shots etc. by telling me about how they work and all the science behind them. I still do this at the doctor if I'm nervous about the procedure. Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on. Even if you're wrong, it's a distraction and a good exercise, and maybe you can ask…

Sounds a lot like intellectualisation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectualization

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#34

Post by gowld »

munificent wrote: post #30
the_af wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> General anaesthesia and the idea you are actually awake but forget Do you mean that this happens for some people? For me, GA felt like a very deep dream where I didn't notice falling asleep but I definitely remember what I dreamed.

I think the parent poster if confusing general anesthesia from sedation [1]. If you got a colonoscopy or your wisdom teeth out, it was probably sedation. If you got major surgery where they cut a big hole in you, that's more likely to be general anesthesia. "Twilight sedation" is pretty spooky from a philosophical perspective. You are somewhat aware of what's happening to you and are experiencing it in the moment. Bu…

The other aspect of twilight sedations is: do you feel pain and then lose the conscious memory, but retain the stress reaction's affect on your body?

And similarly for anesthesia: even if you don't feel pain, is your body having a stress reaction? Obviously yes to some extent, for the non-neural pathways that are physically insulted during the procedure, but what about for neural pathways?

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#35

Post by mettamage »

VyseofArcadia wrote: post #11

Different take on the headline: when I was little and scared at the doctor, my mom would distract me from shots etc. by telling me about how they work and all the science behind them. I still do this at the doctor if I'm nervous about the procedure. Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on. Even if you're wrong, it's a distraction and a good exercise, and maybe you can ask…

I do this to get over my fear of flights :)

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#36

Post by gowld »

VectorLock wrote: post #26
SillyUsername wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily a good thing knowing the science - just off the top of my head... Topics I wish I'd never known about - General anaesthesia and low dose - General anaesthesia and the idea you are actually awake but forget. - General anaesthesia stats and possibility of being awake (moreso if you're anxious about not going to sleep - it's happened to me with gas). - Flying and why the plane needs to dive for certain s…

>General anaesthesia and the idea you are actually awake but forget. This freaked me out as well. Wouldn't I know in the moment? Do we actually experience something if we don't encode memories for it?

> Do we actually experience something if we don't encode memories for it?

It's not "don't encode memories"; it's "lose conscious memory". Your body still scars from cuts when you are unconscious. Your brain likely does too.

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#37

Post by gowld »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #15
hirundo wrote: post #7

I think it would be useful to play a simulation of cancer treatment that includes realistic odds of survival. It's difficult to grok the idea that you have an X% chance of surviving for Y months by just looking at the numbers, or that Z treatment will affect those odds for some cost in extra misery. Simulating the meaning of those odds by gameplay, watching your avatars live and die, suffering more or less, could giv…

"Chemotherapy simulator" seems like a bit depressing game.

So does "war simulator".

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#38

Post by cramjabsyn »

VyseofArcadia wrote: post #11

Different take on the headline: when I was little and scared at the doctor, my mom would distract me from shots etc. by telling me about how they work and all the science behind them. I still do this at the doctor if I'm nervous about the procedure. Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on. Even if you're wrong, it's a distraction and a good exercise, and maybe you can ask…

> Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on.

This helped a lot with flying anxiety, once I could put a reason to most of the sounds and movements of flying I could relax a lot better. An unexpected one will get my attention though

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#40

Post by VyseofArcadia »

ashleyn wrote: post #33
VyseofArcadia wrote: post #11

Different take on the headline: when I was little and scared at the doctor, my mom would distract me from shots etc. by telling me about how they work and all the science behind them. I still do this at the doctor if I'm nervous about the procedure. Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on. Even if you're wrong, it's a distraction and a good exercise, and maybe you can ask…

Sounds a lot like intellectualisation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectualization

Hm, maybe it is that for some people, but for me, another large component is that understanding the procedure makes it less scary. The doctor isn't doing these mysterious horrible things and you don't know what's coming next. You do know, or at least suspect, what's coming next, so the fear of the unknown/unexpected is mitigated.
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