I'm researching the experiences of parents who are concerned about and have attempted to manage the gaming behaviours of their adolescent (12-18 year old) children and wondered if anyone here would be willing to take the time to share their experiences. The focus of this research is to look at common interventions that parents use to control gaming and hear from their perspective what has and hasn't worked and why. To my knowledge, there has been little research done to date in this space and my experience is that many parents are very much wanting to understand what others have gone through, and where others have been successful in managing the issue, what approaches they have used.
If you would be willing to share your experiences so that these can be made available to help others I would hugely appreciate it. You can complete the survey here: http://netaddictionnz.typeform.com/to/zi2NN5
The results from this research will be used as part of a book that I am writing aimed at helping parents understand how to talk about and manage gaming effectively with their children, and will also be made available for free through my website www.netaddiction.co.nz. My background is as someone who experienced gaming addiction myself as a teenager around 2000-2003. I have since trained as a psychotherapist in New Zealand, and researched the experiences of gamers who have received treatment for gaming addiction as part of my Master's dissertation. I now treat and train other clinicians in working with gaming addiction, but am wanting to further develop resources to help parents who are struggling with this topic. I created the web resource www.netaddiction.co.nz which provides information and advice for those affected by gaming addiction.
Hi James I have looked at your site before and have found it very helpful resource.
Your research sounds very interesting
In my online informal research I am finding that "professional therapy" for gaming addiction is a little bit smoke and mirrors in that very little treatment detail is revealed about the process, and how case studies have progressed. Personally I would welcome any insight into what currently goes on and how it is helpful. Perhaps that will be part of your research presentation anyway.
INFO
Help for gamers here
Help for parents of gamers here
Help for spouses/SO's of gamers here
Parent's online meeting THURSDAY 9pmEST/EDT click here
Online meetings gaming addicts click here
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Thanks Polga. Yes, it is a frustration of mine that much of the research to date focuses on defining the problem, identifying prevalence and identifying aetiology and 'risk' factors and very little if any research actually looks at approaches to managing or treating the issue, meaning that very little is known about effective approaches beyond what people self-report. My experience is that while there are many similarities in approach to managing and treating gaming addiction as with other addictions, there are also many unique factors that need to be considered and have implications for working with the problem that could be better understood through thorough research. Hopefully looking at parents' experiences of what has and hasn't worked for them will at least be a start!