health
My mother is addicted to gaming and emotionally unavailable. What should I do?
Her actions may be numbing pain she feels in other areas of her life, so you must approach the issue thoughtfully
TL;DR
- The reader's mother has been playing video games, including solitaire and slot machine games, for hours daily since the 1990s.
- The gaming addiction has worsened since the reader's father died four years ago, impacting family relationships as the mother is often emotionally unavailable.
- A psychotherapist suggests the gaming may be a coping strategy for difficult emotions, such as grief, and advises approaching the issue with compassion.
- If the gaming is not causing harm and the individual would stop if a better alternative presented itself, it might not be classified as an addiction.
- If the mother is gambling with money, this presents a more serious concern.
- Support resources for problem gambling are provided for the UK, US, and Australia.