Glenn
May 23rd, 2007, 10:51 AM
okay so in the latest copy of pc gamer under the opinions page there was this very interesting article i think gamers and others like myself shud read:
(By the way this was not made or personally written by me)
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You asked if gaming had made my life better. Well, in some ways i guess it save mine.
I suffer from severe depression. Four years ago i became so suicidal that i was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and had to go into care. At the mere age of 14 it was possibly the worst point of my life, having my freedom taken away from me simply because i had lost the will to live, being forced to take medicine that made me ill and eat poorly cooked NHS-funded food.
It was hell. Once the police were called because a patient friend of mine was cutting herself and wouldn't give the nursing staff her knife, another time i vomited 11 times in one day after i went on hunger strike and refused my medicine. There really was nothing to get out of bed for. After two overdoses and bringing a train to a halt after waiting on the railway tracks i really was on the edge of losing it completely.
However it was during those months i discovered gaming. I can remember spending long hours poring over screenshots in my first copy of pc gamer, and reading about the future of games. A future that made me want to stay alive that little bit longer. I spent many a night playing tony hawks pro skater 4 and timesplitters 2, being taught the ins and out of each map by my fellow patients and spending hours trying to nab the top score and high score. It took my mind off my otherwise painfull existance. It was my escapism. It took my mind off my otherwise painful existance.I remember specifically putting offa suicide attempt because a fellow patient unexpectadly challenged me to a game of burnout 2. if i hadnt been a gamer i may well have died that night.
You see, computer gaming not only kept me sane during the dark days of my existance. it might even have contribuated to why im still alive. Quite simply, gaming did more to help me that any of the so called therapies or medication i was on. I am looking forward to the day i can get my PCG subscription paid for by the NHS.
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Feel free to comment !
Thanks
(By the way this was not made or personally written by me)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You asked if gaming had made my life better. Well, in some ways i guess it save mine.
I suffer from severe depression. Four years ago i became so suicidal that i was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and had to go into care. At the mere age of 14 it was possibly the worst point of my life, having my freedom taken away from me simply because i had lost the will to live, being forced to take medicine that made me ill and eat poorly cooked NHS-funded food.
It was hell. Once the police were called because a patient friend of mine was cutting herself and wouldn't give the nursing staff her knife, another time i vomited 11 times in one day after i went on hunger strike and refused my medicine. There really was nothing to get out of bed for. After two overdoses and bringing a train to a halt after waiting on the railway tracks i really was on the edge of losing it completely.
However it was during those months i discovered gaming. I can remember spending long hours poring over screenshots in my first copy of pc gamer, and reading about the future of games. A future that made me want to stay alive that little bit longer. I spent many a night playing tony hawks pro skater 4 and timesplitters 2, being taught the ins and out of each map by my fellow patients and spending hours trying to nab the top score and high score. It took my mind off my otherwise painfull existance. It was my escapism. It took my mind off my otherwise painful existance.I remember specifically putting offa suicide attempt because a fellow patient unexpectadly challenged me to a game of burnout 2. if i hadnt been a gamer i may well have died that night.
You see, computer gaming not only kept me sane during the dark days of my existance. it might even have contribuated to why im still alive. Quite simply, gaming did more to help me that any of the so called therapies or medication i was on. I am looking forward to the day i can get my PCG subscription paid for by the NHS.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feel free to comment !
Thanks