Video Games and ADD

[Karthur]

I recently read an article about how video games are being used to treat ADD and thought I'd share for discussion.

So...here's the URL:
http://news.com.com/Attention+deficit+d ... 40181.html

What do y'all think?

[Werefrog]

Sorry... I couldn't focus long enough to read it.



Seriously though, that's really cool. I wish I had one right now. It might make racing games fun.

[phyco126]

Hmmmm, I don't know. I have ADD (technically ADHD now from what I hear.) I have also played video games since I was in 3rd grade (not as often as most kids, I didn't hit my official gamer tag until I was in high school.) Regardless, I still have it, so maybe it doesn't work on me

Then again, I can read the article and see what games they use, hahaha.

[Alunissage]

Interesting, but not surprising; knowing my own powers of concentration on games when I can be going off in all directions at once most of the time, it matches with my own experience. ADD isn't a great name anyway; it's more inconsistent attention rather than attention deficit. (And whoever decided to call it a disorder needs to be punched in the nose.) Even my uncle, who probably has the strongest case in my family, was surprised when I said my mom thought I had it; telling me I was one of the most focused people he knew. And I am...in certain circumstances, to the point where my fiancé is almost afraid to disturb me.

I'm just glad that people are being more constructive in dealing with ADD rather than just labelling kids hyperactive and adults lazy and stupid. It's immensely frustrating to try to fit ADD into the "real world" framework, but at least it's getting recognized as a condition which requires different approaches, not shouting and punishment. Maybe someday it will even be a good thing to have, in some contexts.

[Kizyr]

Oh sure... especially when playing strategy games. Civ and Alpha Centauri have me so focused, I won't even realize time has passed by 'til it's 5 in the morning. KF

[Alunissage]

Which is pretty much exactly what happened to me last night...or this morning. It was shortly before 5 that I turned off the PS2 and caught up on my board-reading, at which point my eyes were barely focusing. But I had to read through everything...that's the compulsive aspect.

[phyco126]

I don't know Alunissage, you may have a point, but I must have missed it. What you said about ADD sounds no different than people saying depression isn't a big deal... *shrug*

[scaryice]

[phyco126]

SI, you sure that guy doesn't suffer from tourettes or OCD?

[Werefrog]

At least he looks happy.

[Alunissage]

I don't know Alunissage, you may have a point, but I must have missed it. What you said about ADD sounds no different than people saying depression isn't a big deal... *shrug*

Hm. That's certainly not what I was trying to convey. I'll try again. There's a book (or is it a chapter in a book?) on ADD called something like "You mean I'm not lazy, crazy, or stupid?" Because that is how people with ADD are assumed to be...that they could do better if they just bothered to try, or are mentally deficient or otherwise screwed up. Sometimes this becomes self-fulfilling; a lot of people with ADD self-medicate with alcohol or drugs or even food, because they're not getting enough stimulation. Unsurprisingly their lives get messed up.

What I'm glad to see is that it's being recognized as a legitimate medical condition and not just a lack of discipline or willpower. In this particular case, kids are being treated constructively for it rather than just being punished because they didn't get their homework done or their room picked up. (Well, these may still be occurring, but my point is that an effort to deal with the situation rather than simply calling the kid bad is a step forward.) With recognition will come accommodation...a job restructured to be manageable for an ADD person, or for that matter a better idea of what sorts of jobs will be better or worse for that person. I told my boss when I made the appointment to be evaluated and apprised him of the results, and while we don't discuss it directly, it's been much easier to prioritize and get things done now that he knows the situation and how much a problem distraction can be, and adjusts my taskload and priorities appropriately. He knows I'm not incompetent, just that some conditions make it very difficult for me to get things done. I realize that this is probably not typical, but hopefully more people will become aware of this and be similarly accommodating, rather than simply concluding that the employee is incapable.

Does that make more sense? It's definitely a big deal to me; I got through school and college with my intelligence compensating for my difficulty in getting myself to start homework and similar things, but I've spent many years of my life being frustrated at being unable to realize the potential I know is there, to focus on a project or pursuit long enough to make meaningful progress -- I tend to be very enthusiastic and focused on something until I'm distracted and then the new thing completely takes over the attention, so little happens with the first until I cycle back to it in time...years later, sometimes. I don't have a great way to fix that, since work takes up so much time that I have to do things in small segments which are inevitably interrupted, but at least it's an explanation. But it's not at all trivial.

[scaryice]

SI, you sure that guy doesn't suffer from tourettes or OCD?

The whole episode was about ADD.

[phyco126]

Alunnisage, that makes alot of sense now. I just hope you didn't take what I said as an accusation, as I was merely just trying to say that's what it sounded like to me. Anyway, I totally understand what you are saying now.

Though, from what you said about you and your boss, it sort of makes me wonder if I would still have a job if I actually let my boss(s) know everything I'm "suffereing" from....

[Alunissage]

Nah, I wasn't offended or anything; I got what you meant. I'm glad you know me well enough to figure that if what I said sounded unreasonable then something probably wasn't making it through.

I suspect that right now there's still too much ignorance -- though ADD may be classed as a disability and therefore certain legal protections would apply. I'm not positive that it is, though. My boss and I have worked together for close to four years now, and when I left for a year he found that even someone who was definitely more organized and not at all scatterbrained wasn't as good a fit as I and was glad to have me back. (And I'm glad that he had to deal with someone else so he can appreciate me and be willing to work with me rather than try to replace me again, which didn't work out the first time. Just as well that I plan to be there for at least three more years.) So he considers it a good investment to make things easy for me, and in fact is willing to hire me a third assistant so I can work 80% time as I'd like to, if I can find enough of my job to delegate to others. Part of why my job is so big is that I do quite a lot of things that he would probably be doing himself, freeing him up to do the things he's actually supposed to be doing rather than getting bogged down in administrivia. I also end up doing jobs that other people in the department would normally be doing, and I'm to look into having those people do them instead of me.

I'm sorry if all that sounds like bragging; it's just a really pleasant realization. Mostly I'm stressed out about my job and worried about getting things done, to the point where I-Gene starts thinking my job is cruel and unusual punishment, and it's been good to realize the positive things just now. And I think things have definitely gotten easier in the months since I've been diagnosed. I know this won't be the case for everyone, but there's hope. It's tough when there aren't a lot of options for employment, I know.

[phyco126]

Curious, where do you work, or if you don't want to say, then what do you do?

See, my problem was my depression, ADD, and I wouldn't doubt if my tourettes had something to do too. Anyway, under law you're supposed to tell your bosses so they can make accomadations for you. If you don't tell them, that's your choice, but you can't use your disabilities as reason for termination should you decide to sue. In other words, if you don't tell, you're not protected under law.

I did my best to keep my job, but it obviously didn't work out. I kept on arriving late, despite my best efforts, and I wasn't always able to remember to finish all my given tasks before the shift was up. I'm serious, I would forget to do it right after I look at my check sheet.

However, I was too afraid to tell my bosses, afriad that they would dump me faster than a guy dumps his girl for a supermodel.

That's why I'm wondering if I should have said something. It probably wouldn't have helped anyway, but who knows.

[Alunissage]

I work at the University of California, as the lab manager/administrative assistant for a professor in computational biology. My never-ending task list includes things like personnel issues, archiving of bloody near everything, managing accounts and tracking down errors, scheduling meetings and maintaining my boss's calendar, assisting with grant applications (responsible for about 70 hours of overtime last month), managing his travel arrangements, drafting/writing letters from him to various officials, job applicants, purchasing....and so on. As you can imagine, with new things coming in constantly it's hard to keep going with what I'm working on or remember what I'm supposed to be doing. One solution to the former was to set my email to not check constantly, only on demand, so I wouldn't get pulled off what I was working on by something newer and therefore more important-seeming. Another thing is to make a list each morning of what I intend to work on and look at the list instead of just trying to remember, because if I just rely on my memory I'll almost certainly forget something important. Of course, then I have to remember to look at the list. I'm getting better at that, though.

I don't know what to say about your previous job experience, but the law makes sense -- they can't accommodate what they don't know about. But I can totally understand not wanting to risk telling. Probably if I hadn't had a pretty good relationship with my boss already I would have had a hard time bringing it up, and if I'd been in a new job it would have been almost impossible. It was hard enough just talking about it with I-Gene and my feeling that he was getting a pretty poor bargain in a wife who he'll have to remiind about things for the rest of his life. We're getting used to the situation, though.

Memory's such a weird thing. I can remember obscure details from things years ago, but not where I put my coffee or what important thing is due tomorrow. *shrug* There's got to be some situation in which remembering minor details is useful, besides racking up too many messageboard posts.

[phyco126]

Heh, I hear you with the memory. Mine is pretty much what you just described. I can remember very minor details of events that happened since kindergarden and before. My memories are very vivid, detailed, down to the exact thing I was doing, what it looked like (if I had an object) and yadda yadda yadda.

However, I couldn't even remember that my mom gave me over $1,000 in just two months (April and May.) I forget that rent is due, bills are due (not that it matters any more really, but it used to.) I forget a lot of things. My long term memory is great, but my short term memory is almost as useful as, err, that one blue fish's from Finding Nemo

[DeathBeforeDenial]

Reading

Strategy Board Games

Strategy Video Games

Even uninterrupted (By commercials) TV or movies can be good for treating ADD.

It's all about maintaining focus on one thing for a long period of time.

There was a study recently done in an attempt to connect ADD with commercials. Advertising makes your mind switch back and forth thinking about different things every 30 seconds. They said ADD could be a habit formed problem, and not necessarily an innate psychological problem..

[Alunissage]

I could see that if it were solely psychological, but it's not; it's physiological. Too much of one chemical or another in the brain. I don't know if that's the case with all instances, and it probably isn't, but it certainly is with many. Medications usually address this; mine is usually used to treat depression as a result of chemical imbalance (I'm not depressed, but the brain situation is similar).

Commercials do tend to distract me, but that's largely because I rarely see them otherwise; the only TV watching I do is Tivo-governed, and not much of that, so they're all new to me. But yeah, I don't really like changing gears like that. The main problem I have with work is that it's not generally structured to allow me to focus intently on one thing as long as it takes to get it done to my satisfaction. On the other hand, this past Saturday I tried to finally get a bit farther in my Growlanser II game and spent a good four hours or more just doing a totally optional tournament and optimizing strategy and the like instead of progressing the story as I'd intended. That was probably a bit too much focus.

[phyco126]

Heh, TV, games, and driving. Let me tell you, they may be good for treating ADD, but that doesn't always work for me. I can be totally into the movie, totally into a game, or totally into driving, but suddenly I start thinking about something else (Oh look, something shiney! Oh, that reminds me, I need to wash the car. CAR! Car payment is due. Rent is due. Oh hey, lookit that, funny hair do. I need a hair cut... maybe I should shave... oh snaps, the new Lunar game is coming out! Etc etc etc.) Finally, I'll snap out of it, and it was like I was dreaming, as I completely space everything BUT what I was thinking out. I end up not remembering turning onto a particular street (though I never get lost that way, it's like I switch to auto-pilot or something,) or what just happened in the movie. Heck, I end up spacing on the game so bad that I either stop moving, or I end up roaming aimlessly. That, or I play the game normally and just don't remember the last several battles.

It's an issue for me, I also space out during meetings when I had my job, or I would space out when someone is talking to me (even if it's something I really wanted to hear/listen too.) I can't talk and watch a movie/play a game. I can do it driving, but it's hard to concentrate on both anyways. I often forget what I'm talking about in mid-sentence. When I did work, I also would space out when I should be doing work, often "waking up" behind schedule.

Alunissage, if you don't mind me asking, what medication are you on? I'm currently only being treated for depression and at times sleep deprevation.