Anxiety, depression and video games

It's time to talk about something that has happened to many gamers in the world at some point, including me personally on several occasions in my life, it's about how video games can attack anxiety and depression. It's a subject that can be complicated because we expose ourselves by talking about our weaknesses, this time I'll do it from my point of view and experience.

In my life I have had good moments where I achieved goals on a personal level, finishing an academic year or winning first place in a tournament are examples of this, but despite this there are always moments where anxiety and depression invade my mind, sinking my thoughts in a darkness where there seems to be no way out.

Some people have their methods to control these symptoms, but my output has been video games. In those moments when I think that I don't feel good, that everything goes wrong and even that many of the people to whom I have respect and affection turn their backs on me, I take my keyboard and mouse and get involved in a virtual world where I know that I have absolute control of everything that exists in it.

In my gamer life I have played hundreds of games that have allowed me to control significantly the anxiety, but one of them undoubtedly is League of Legends, at times when I thought I was emotionally lost I focused on overcoming my skills in this MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and the satisfaction it gave me to win games, learn more about the items and climb divisions was something incredible.

However, you get to the point where you ask yourself a very important question "If I try so hard to outdo myself in this game, why can't I do it in real life?" You immediately realize that you can achieve goals if you put effort and dedication into it, making your mind become stronger by separating the anxiety and depression that disturb your mind.

There are even programmers and developers who know about these situations and symbolize this through a video game, a clear example of this is "Celeste" video game launched Indie genre on January 25, 2018, in it we can clearly see in the main story how the character has attacks of social anxiety and depression.

The young woman we control called Madeline must reach the top of a mountain, for this must go through certain difficulties and deadly traps that just touching them would end their suffering, on several occasions meets spectres which are representations of their fears and anxieties. The fear of failure will always be present in Madeline, this is when we realize that Celeste is about how we fight against our bad thoughts to achieve a goal.

Just as this video game there are many more where they cover different problems such as schizophrenia, acceptance to the loss of something, loneliness and even others try mental relaxation exercises to release the pressure that many torments us and be relieved of so much burden of thoughts that distract us from important objectives.

Although many think that video games are not tools to combat mental health, scientists and studies have shown the opposite, many of them serve as therapies to combat anxiety and depression, because video games stimulate two regions of the brain which are very important, one that is associated with motivation to achieve goals and the other to learning and memory, thus demonstrating that they are of great help to many people around the world.

Nor should we misunderstand that video games are the ultimate solution to this type of problem, there are cases in which it will always be necessary the intervention of a professional or other therapies, but it is important to know that this allows many people to release that tension, sadness, depression or anxiety.

This is one of the reasons why I loved, love and will love video games, several people may see them as something bad or just leisure to waste time, but for those who enter those virtual worlds we can see a momentary way out to reality, in addition to making us reflect all those things we can achieve as long as we have the enthusiasm, effort and dedication.