Therapy and video games

I thought I’ve found a great therapist. She was very attentive and seemed to show great care for me. She won my trust and I was able to open up. But now I feel stuck. We end up discussing the same topic every session and I feel it’s going nowhere. She wants me to reduce the time spent with my computer or playing videogames. She says it overloads my brain. I agree with this somewhat and think it’s good to make pauses and do other, more physically demanding activities. My job requires me to use computers 100% of time. My therapist suggested me to work with computers for 2hours and then take a 2hours-long break, which sounds ridiculous. My job is a meaningless task fit for a toddler, but you can’t really fake being a productive employee in front of your boss when you take 2 hour long walks. My favorite hobby is playing videogames. (Yeah, I know, I am disgusting and immature). Now I just go to sleep after coming home from work because I have no energy left for anything else. Still we discuss videogames at every session. I think that our time could be spent better discussing other things. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like discussing games very much; in fact you wouldn’t make me shut up about them. The problem is that my therapist doesn’t know anything at all about them. She obviously doesn’t play videogames herself and most likely haven’t read any research into this field. The only genre of games she knows is shooters. She talks of videogame violence and its effect on my mental health (I feel, it’s not backed by any research or personal experience of hers). I could tell her that recently I’ve been playing mainly the Civilization games, which are strategies that can be played in a wholly non-violent way. I feel this discussion wastes the precious time of my therapist and also doesn’t help me at all. I am much more critical of my hobby than a lot of gamers, but I am very tired of people looking down at me for enjoying “killing simulators” or something suitable only for kids to do.
So, how can I suggest my therapist that I don’t want to return to this topic? I feel it’s not benefiting me at the moment. It’s a shame, really. The sessions used to help me so much. My therapist also suggested me to stop reading Psychcentral (she doesn’t know English, so she doesn’t read it herself). She says it will only make my anxiety grow. Guess, I’m really bad at following her advice.
Thank you for reading. Sorry if I offended somebody, I really didn't mean to.

Can you think of, or make a list of topics/issues you want to discuss and bring it to session? You can direct therapy...it's your time and money. If your therapist brings up video games again, you can say something like, "I wasn't expecting to talk about that. What I would really like to talk about is ___."

If she persists, you are free to ask her, "How do you see this topic helping me?"

Btw, I am not a youngster anymore...and I like video games! I'm not into the latest stuff ($ budget issues) but I do have Civillization...but my favorite is the Diablo series by Blizzard. I have also enjoyed Grand Theft Auto....

I'm a gamer myself, so I can relate. For me gaming is not disgusting and immature, it's as much a hobby as any other.
It seems your T is not very bright (video game violence and its effect on mental health? Like WTH). And if she thinks that you have video game addiction, why not to try to determine possible causes (as with other addictions)? Instead she gives you "suggestions." I suggest you find yourself a more experienced T.

Gaming isn't disgusting or immature. I'm def a grown adult and enjoy playing (Pre, Diablo I love, can't stop!).

I would think that just explaining the benefit of them to you and it's not something that you are willing to get 'rid of' because it helps you, and suggest that your sessions head in a different direction to help you. In my opinion (as Tangerine has said) I am under the impression that your T needs to either move in suggested direction with you or you should try to find a new T that can offer a different approach.

I hope you can find and eventually get what you need from a T.

Three years ago, I played computer and consol games. I injured my knee 9 years ago. I got bored because I really couldn't walk far with my knee. So my fiance introduced me to WoW. I got hooked. I played everyday, 16 hours a day, and never left my house...for 6 years. I played WoW, Oblivion, Farmville, Castleville, and many other games. After 6 years and a family members health scare, I quit gaming. I realize I wasted so many years playing games. But it felt good to play. I didn't have to be me. I could survive in this environment unlike I could in my life. My reality was the game. And I still play some basic games: tetris, suduko, word search, and I watch my fiance play NeverWinter. He has also cut back on gaming. But we were addicted to gaming at one point.

That's just my story. I'm not saying you're addicted.

As for getting T to stop addressing the gaming, I would tell her. I told my T that there were some things I would never tell her about. Ironically, I have already talked about 2 out of the 3 things. And I have also stopped her while in session about things I'm not ready to talk about. Sometimes she prods a little, but she gives up and moves on. I have also told her when she's not listening to me. And worst case if she still doesn't stop, I would stop talking for awhile. Passive-aggressive, but it worked the one time I did it.

Well, your first problem is that your therapist is stuck in the 1980's. And you sort of sound like you might be too.

Video games are an art form aimed largely at adults. Do you really think GTAV is aimed at children? Do you think Saint's Row is aimed at children? The Fallout Series? Civilization definitely isn't.

All of those games involve distinctly adult themes and plots. (I'm referring to the earlier Saint's Row games, not the later ones which are just dildoes and aliens.)

Gaming, especially PC gaming, is distinctly adult territory. It's actually one of the last bastions of entertainment not watered down for pwecious sneauflaykes. The average age of a PC gamer is 37 years old.

Even games which do have a large following among adults and children, such as Minecraft, the truly impressive creations are made by adults.

Games like Skyrim, and I suspect the upcoming Fallout, have more artistic merit than most local galleries.

WoW is different from most modern games because it is designed to do one thing, and one thing only: steal the player's life by using intermittent rewards to encourage meaningless grinding behavior. There are other Facebook games which use the same formula, but I don't think they really even count as 'games' necessarily. They're more brain hijackers which happen to use a pixel medium.

Do people get addicted to gaming? Sure. But gaming addicts 1. Don't tend to really play complex games with real merit. They usually get stuck on the grind games. MMO's are crack candy to an addictive personality. Just like people with gambling addictions seem to get addicted to pokie machines, the most basic, repetitive, shiny grind possible. 2. Like most addicts, they don't just stop because their therapist whines at them to do so. They need support getting back into the world and prioritizing real life goals over obtaining Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker.

Everything I just said is more or less irrelevant though because it's your therapy and your time and your therapist isn't the one who sets the agenda. Unless your gaming is at a point where you feel that you are letting real life aspirations and goals slip by in favor of pixel rewards, then you can confidently tell her to change the subject.

I'm in my mid-30s and have been gaming since the NES. Diablo II in college? Hell yeah. Right now I'm way into Dragon Age Inquisition (love the series myself). I'm also a stay at home mother of two and manage our household. So if anyone would like to question my maturity...? That therapist wouldn't last long with me. Gaming is to me what movies and television are to other people. I find it engaging and fun. I'll play the same game a dozen times (RPGs specifically) because it feels like a well worn book (which by the way, I read a lot too). Oh and on top of my console games, I'm an unashamed Candy Crush player...

Sorry, I get sick and tired of people who don't get video games being down on video games.

My T isn't a gamer but he indulges my gamer talk because it relaxes me, it distracts me and he sees it for the positive thing it is for me.

As an aside it's definitely beneficial to get physical exercise and to enjoy fresh air and engage the world, but I think that if that's your T's goal then she should be a little more on the nose and less stuck on a topic that she clearly doesn't understand.

I'd draw the line and tell her that you're a gamer, this is what you do and it's your hobby. If she can't move past it, maybe it's time to find a T that can respect it even if they don't participate in it.

I am not a video game player but I don't see why it would be any different than any other hobby. I believe in telling a therapist to get off something if I don't identify it as a problem for me.

I did mention I was stuck on FarmVille for a long time. They said it was a distraction. We are allowed something that doesn't cost us or others to escape. Be it reading, listening to music, or playing games. I think what they worry about is how long we "hide out" for.
I haven't told my T about this place. I had s break because I thought it wasn't good for me. But it really is. Where else can I find people who've been through what I've been through? And retain some anonymity? Seriously, how many of us could talk aboutvthiscstuff on Facebook or Twitter or what's app? This is our safe place to vent.

Thank you very much for your responses! I think I wasn't very clear in my post. My therapist suggested me to reduce my exposure to computers(including playing games and reading literature, but I have a slim chance of finding an untranslated copy of Dicworld novel here) as it may be making my anxiety worse. She also seem to have a rather negative view of violence in all the media.

As for me, I've been playing videogames for 20 years and don't really plan to stop enjoying them. I've been addicted to WoW, too and know the experience of living more for a virtual world then the real one. Ironically, it were the other games that made me quit WoW. I realized how mind-numbingly boring and repetitive it had become, how much I've been missing out, but only a copy of Mass Effect made me completely forget Wow. It sounds like an addict's talk, but now I wouldn't consider myself being one. Since then
I've been playing mostly story-driven games and enjoying them a lot.

The thing is that videogames are much less mainstream here. They are considered almost exclusively male hobby and during my 25 years I have met only one girl, who confessed to like them.

As for the violence, I feel that the cruelty, selfishness, and apathy around me start to bring me down really hard. I want to cry all the time for the last few days and it will be a challenge not to drown in these feels till the next session.