Teen Help Articles

Addicted to the Xbox: The Reason behind the Obsession with Video Games
So your teen is obsessed with video games. The good news is that your son or daughter is not simply fascinated by setting things on fire, racing at unsafe speeds, or shooting people. In fact most kids that are addicted to games are not budding sociopaths. In working with adolescents struggling with excessive videogame use, there has been a major theme that runs through most of their obsessions: They are normal kids coping with their anxieties in the best way they know how. In the case of video game addicts this simply means the teen uses video games to help them cope with their anxieties.

Help Your Teen Now, Not Later
There are two big mistakes parents make as they lead up to a treatment decision. First, parents find the idea of "treatment" distressing and will not pursue it until something dire or even life-threatening occurs. This delay will most likely prolong eventual treatment and may mean the teen will need a more intensive treatment setting than if they had acted sooner. Second, parents will expend whatever energy and resource it takes to keep a child on track academically, even when their teen shows no interest in school. When your teen seems to prefer living off you in a sort of "teenage retirement," hanging out with friends or isolating themselves, possibly drinking or doing drugs, a primary focus on academic performance will almost always miss the mark.

The Most Addictive Types of Video Games
With the advent of new and better technologies, videogame companies have become endowed with greater abilities to create deeper, more epic, more socially interactive, and thus more addicting games. Whereas the first-generation games previously consisted of a one block bouncing back and forth between two other blocks, modern videogames have become massive productions on the visual scale of most action movies. Many video games released today have better box office openings than even the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Videogames are surely a new media force with which to be reckoned.

Why World of Warcraft is the Most Addictive Videogame
When it comes to addictive videogames there is only one high score. The massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) is far and away the most addictive type of videogame on the planet. MMORPG's are social games. These games can be played with thousands of other players online at the same time. This adds a huge social component to gaming. The social component alone often gives the teen gamer the desire to play this type of game.

Aaron Shaw started as an adoptions counselor for the Department of Children and Families in Tampa, Florida. While working as an adoptions counselor, he completed his Master's degree in Mental Health and Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of South Florida. After completing his M.A., he and his family I moved to Utah where he worked for 3 years as a therapist with teens. Also during this time he completed the coursework for his Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from Brigham Young University.