We work with families at Energetics Institute whose lives have been reorganised around one person’s gaming. The teen who has not attended school in three weeks. The 28 year old who lost his job because he could not stop playing at 4am. The parents who have run out of strategies, patience, and hope. What these situations share is not a lack of willpower. It is a pattern where playing video games has shifted from recreation into something closer to compulsion, and where stopping feels genuinely impossible despite clear negative consequences.
Video game addiction, formally called internet gaming disorder, is recognised by both the World Health Organization (ICD-11) and flagged by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a condition warranting further research. Research suggests between 1.7 and 10 percent of gamers meet diagnostic criteria at some point, with rates climbing among frequent players of online video games designed for constant engagement.
At our Subiaco practice, we specialise in the complex interplay between gaming addiction and underlying mental health issues. We do not simply tell people to stop gaming. We work to understand what gaming provides that real life currently does not, and we build a pathway back toward daily functioning that does not rely on willpower alone.
Understanding Gaming Addiction As A Recognised Disorder
Gaming disorder is defined as a pattern of game play, whether online games or offline, characterised by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities, and continuation or escalation despite negative impacts on daily life. The brain changes observed in gaming addiction mirror those seen in gambling and other addictions, particularly in reward circuitry and impulse regulation.
People with gaming disorder often feel compelled to play even when they recognise the harm. They may experience withdrawal symptoms including irritability, anxiety, and restlessness when access is removed. They describe unsuccessful attempts to cut back, loss of interest in other activities they once enjoyed, and a narrowing of life until gaming occupies almost every waking hour.
Understanding gaming addiction at this level matters because it shifts the conversation from blame to biology. This is not about laziness or bad character. It is about how certain brains respond to certain stimuli, and why some people develop excessive use patterns while others playing the same single player or multiplayer games do not. Risk factors include pre-existing anxiety, social isolation, ADHD traits, and environments where gaming becomes the only accessible source of competence or connection. Mental health professionals increasingly recognise that gaming disorder sits alongside other addictions as a legitimate clinical concern requiring structured intervention.
How We Assess Gaming Addiction In Our Practice
Assessment at Energetics Institute goes well beyond counting hours of screen time. We examine the full picture: mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, or trauma that frequently co-occur with problem gaming. We look at sleep patterns, physical exercise habits, social interactions, family dynamics, and what the person’s life looked like before gaming took over.
A 16 year old from Willetton was referred to us by his school counsellor after three months of declining attendance. His parents described a young person who had been social, played cricket on weekends, and maintained solid grades until Year 10. Over one summer, he discovered a competitive online game and within four months was playing 50 to 60 hours weekly. His sleep had inverted entirely. He was eating one meal a day, had dropped all sport, and became aggressive when family members raised concerns.
In our assessment, we identified not just the gaming pattern but significant social anxiety that had been building since Year 9, unprocessed grief after his grandfather’s death, and a family communication style that swung between permissiveness and explosive conflict. The gaming was real and damaging. But it was also a coping mechanism for difficult emotions he had no other way to manage. Treatment needed to address all of these layers, not just the surface behaviour.
Key Indicators That Gaming Has Become A Problem
The line between enthusiastic gaming and addiction is not always obvious. Many young people and adults play regularly without harm. The distinction lies in whether gaming is causing conflict and impairment across multiple areas of life, and whether the person can moderate their behaviour when they choose to.
Key indicators we look for include gaming that has steadily increased in duration over months, repeated unsuccessful attempts to reduce or stop playing, continuing to game despite clear consequences to sleep, relationships, work or school, using gaming as the primary way to deal with stress, boredom, or negative emotions, social withdrawal from offline friends and activities, and deception about the amount of time spent gaming.
Other key indicators include neglecting other daily activities such as hygiene, meals, and responsibilities, and beginning to feel anxious or agitated whenever gaming is interrupted. If these patterns persist for more than three months, a professional assessment is warranted. Not every heavy gamer has a disorder, but every person whose daily functioning has deteriorated because of gaming deserves to understand what is happening and what their options are.
Gaming Addiction In Teens Versus Adults
In teens, gaming addiction typically disrupts school attendance, academic performance, sleep, and family relationships. Young people are particularly vulnerable because their brains are still developing the prefrontal circuits responsible for impulse control and long-term planning. Games designed with variable reward schedules, social pressure from other players, and competitive ranking systems exploit these developmental vulnerabilities deliberately.
A Year 11 student from Thornlie came to us after his mother found him still playing at 5am on a school night for the fourth consecutive week. He had been a promising student with university aspirations. Within six months of heavy online gaming, his predicted ATAR had dropped by 15 points. He described feeling anxious whenever he was not playing, convinced his in-game rank would slip if he took even a day off. His identity had become entirely bound to his gaming performance. Real life felt flat, pointless, and overwhelming by comparison.
In adults, gaming addiction often intertwines with work avoidance, relationship breakdown, physical health decline, and sometimes online gambling. Adults may be more skilled at concealing the extent of their use, which means the problem is often advanced by the time loved ones or employers notice. A 32 year old software developer from Como came to us after his partner issued an ultimatum. He was gaming four to five hours every evening and most of each weekend, had gained 18 kilograms in a year, and had not seen friends in person for over six months. He knew it was a problem. He simply could not stop.
How We Treat Gaming Addiction
Our approach integrates several evidence-based methods tailored to each person’s specific situation. We do not believe in one-size-fits-all treatment for gaming disorder, because the reasons behind excessive use vary enormously from person to person.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) forms a core component of our work. CBT helps clients identify the thoughts and beliefs that maintain gaming behaviour, such as “real life is boring compared to games” or “I am only good at this one thing.” A systematic review of CBT for internet gaming disorder shows consistent reductions in gaming time and improvements in daily functioning across multiple studies.
We also work somatically, paying attention to what the body carries. Many of our clients with gaming addiction live almost entirely in their heads, disconnected from physical sensation. Teaching them to notice their body’s signals, to recognise when stress or loneliness is building before it triggers a gaming session, gives them an early warning system that cognitive strategies alone cannot provide.
For teens, family therapy is almost always essential. We help parents set boundaries that are firm without being punitive, respond to resistance without escalating, and understand their teenager’s emotional world without excusing harmful patterns. Support that involves the whole family consistently produces better long-term outcomes than individual work alone.
Rebuilding Life Outside The Game World
Recovery from gaming addiction is not just about reducing hours. It is about building a life worth being present for. This means addressing the underlying issues that made gaming so compelling in the first place: social isolation, anxiety, low self-esteem, boredom, or a lack of purpose.
We work with clients to reintroduce physical activity, re-establish social interactions that happen face to face rather than through a headset, improve sleep hygiene, and develop coping strategies for difficult emotions in a healthy way that does not involve a screen. Over time, this rebuilds cognitive skills such as sustained attention, frustration tolerance, and the capacity to find satisfaction in activities that do not deliver instant dopamine hits. It also restores a sense of well being that gaming, despite its apparent comfort, had been steadily eroding. For young people, this often means reconnecting with sport, creative pursuits, or part-time work that provides structure, social contact, and a sense of competence.
The 16 year old from Willetton, six months into treatment, had returned to school four days a week, rejoined his cricket team, and reduced gaming to under 15 hours weekly. He still played. We did not frame recovery as requiring him to stop gaming entirely. Healthy gaming, where game play fits within a balanced life rather than consuming it, was a realistic and sustainable goal. He described the shift simply: “I used to play because I had nothing else. Now I play because I actually want to.”
