General Violent Video Games And PTSD?

[desperate]

Just a quick question - has anyone seen/read anything about how people with PTSD respond to some of these video games? My husband plays them for HOURS at a time - and pretty much all he plays are war games. He says he enjoys them, and I've even (almost)managed to get him to stop letting our five year old son play them as well. The problem is that he gets so absorbed in them that he gets downright angry if anyone interrupts him. And most of the time he seems like he is in a bad mood when he's done. I'm just concerned that he gets so obsessive over these games that basically put him back in the situation that caused his PTSD in the first place. Now that I'm writing this down, I realize that I sound like an overprotective parent. I suppose that's just his way of shutting out the world and having some alone time. But at least for the short term, I wonder if maybe it's making things worse?

 

[Nicolette]

Hi Desperate

You may wish to read the following poll [DLMURL="http://www.ptsdforum.org/thread6173.html"]Do Video Games Calm You?[/DLMURL]

What you are writing is common. While Sufferers say it calms them I think it is more a form of escapism than the activity itself calming them. Anthony's PTSD is from the military and it bewildered me at the start as to why he would play violent war games. Zoning out of the present somehow gives them a chance to 'calm down' as they don't have to deal with the present. As to the violence....I don't get that.

I now only see Anthony play the games when he is quite stressed and sometimes it can be an all day affair. Thankfully he rarely plays now compared to when I first met him. I make no secret of telling him he is a much better person to be around when he does not get caught up in computer games (and just computers) as while he thinks it calms him I see it making him very anti-social and, like you said, they get nasty when you interrupt them.

Balance is the key I think. Now when Anthony is unwell he may play for a few hours and that is fine. It's when it becomes all day for days on end that I don't like as you watch them disappear from reality into some void. While I understand that the stress may be so great that they need to 'escape' as they may overload, it then comes down to management of the illness as well.