by Johnny Tock, MA, LMHC | Academic Failure, Addiction Treatment Guide, ADHD, Anxiety, Behavioral Addictions, Depression, Digital Disruptors, Gambling, Mental Health, Poor Nutrition Habits, Poor Sleep Hygiene, Screen Addiction, Tech Talk, Video Game Addiction, What We Treat
Understanding the differences when seeking behavioral change
As you are looking for options for the summer, it is important to know and understand the differences between a summer camp and a summer program. reSTART is in favor of encouraging any activity or behavior that focuses on getting our students outside, active, and away from screens for a certain period of time, but for those students that are looking for specific support around Internet and gaming struggles, it is essential that you know the difference between these two options when considering treatment for video game addiction, screen dependence and mental health concerns.
Lack of Regulation
Summer Camps are generally unregulated and unlicensed. This means that they do not have the same standards such as training requirements or background checks. As a licensed program, we are accountable to the state licensing board and have regular audits for our staff and our facilities. This helps ensure that your child is receiving proper care, support, and attention in a physically and emotionally safe environment.
Summer Intensives at reSTART
The benefit of the reSTART summer program is that you get a shortened version of our propriety, state of the art, experiential program. This program includes in depth assessments, parent coaching, individual and group therapy, family therapy and our unique program design. This design has been developed over 10 years and has been shown to greatly improve the lifestyle and wellbeing of adolescents and young adults struggling with internet and video game problems and co-occurring mental health issues.
Combining Summer Intensive with Summer Camp Fun
reSTART also focuses on a lot of similar elements of your traditional summer camp. We want our students to be out in nature and experience the wonders that the outdoors have to offer. Our students participate in day hikes and overnight camping trips throughout the summer, allowing them that opportunity for connection and getting them out of their element, away from screens, and in an environment focused on positivity and growth.
Enroll early to ensure you have a spot
Late spring and summer is the most popular time of year to enroll at reSTART, so apply early to ensure you’ll have a spot. We look forward to working with our summer families and being apart of their amazing journey. See you this summer!
by restartlife | Behavioral Addictions, Depression, Mental Health
Technology is one of the main developments of this century, it is common and accessible, to the point where the average person has at least one gadget. Electronic devices have spread exponentially, and with them video games. People can play anywhere and for long periods of time. This may seem appealing at first sight, nonetheless, excessive game consumption carries negative consequences for people’s wellbeing, video game addiction being one of them.
Addictive behavior
In the past, addiction was thought to be a mental disorder where the addict’s brain changes were the result of a psychoactive substance or chemical. Nowadays we know better, the structure/chemistry of the brain also changes following the repetition of a rewarding activity, giving place to behavioral addictions such as gambling, or the topic that concerns us: video game addiction.
Video Game Addiction
Like many mental disorders, behavioral addictions manifest in a variety of ways, and while the focus of the fixation may vary, the main symptom remains unchanged, which it is an overwhelming need
to consume the addictive substance or activity.
Those under the grip of video game addiction, invest a considerable large part of their time playing video games, and like any other addicts they wrongly believe that they are in control of their actions. Nevertheless, they struggle to stop their gaming sessions to engage in other activities such as working, studying or to exercise, eat and spend time away from their device. Moreover, they may feel extremely anxious and irritated when their gaming sessions are interrupted or suspended
Video Game Addiction and Depression
When it comes to mental health, a mental health disorder may co-occur in tandem with another disorder, this is known as comorbidity. When it comes to video game addiction, there is a strong correlation with depression and anxiety, meaning that those facing video game addiction might be facing a much more complicated threat.
How to Spot Depression
Since video games abusers are prone to depression, it is important to look for any possible warning signs. Overall, depression is a mood disorder characterized by a consistent and overwhelming feeling of sadness, it persists for long periods of time, and it can be accompanied by apathy,
hopelessness, and irritability; as well as changes in appetite and sleep patterns.
What to Do in Case of Depression and Video Game Addiction
Video games are enticing, they allow us to have fun, and share some laughs with our friends, but they were not meant to be the sole focus of our lives. Thus, it is important to seek professional help if you or someone you know is facing video game addiction, especially if it is accompanied by depression.
Mental disorders can progress and intensify if untreated, and what at first is a light rain, can easily transform itself into a hurricane that takes with it everything we care about. Remember, there is no shame in asking for help, you are important, and there are mental health professionals willing to help you to overcome your addiction. Just reach out for help if you need it.
by Maura Reagan, MA, LMHCA | Mental Health
Body-Mind Connection?
“Begin to tune in to that body-mind connection…” urged the Lulu lemon-clad instructor at the start of my group exercise class. Shortly followed by, “ . . . remind yourself why you came today.”
As a counselor and dance/movement therapist, I am no stranger to these buzzwords but, today, they gave me pause. What are we really talking about when we talk about the body-mind connection?
Intrinsic Connection
More and more in recent years, mainstream society’s understanding of mental health seems to be waking up to a reality that dance/movement therapists and somatic practitioners have been aware of for years:the notion that the mind and the body are intrinsically connected. So much so, that a change in one influences a change in the other—a concept that movement therapy has used to facilitate psychotherapeutic treatment for over half a century. Of course, the awareness of a unified mind and body is an ancient one in Eastern philosophies, but in the 17th century René Descartes famously reinforced the old Greek notion of a mind-body split, which has dominated mainstream thinking until recently. Now as our Western society attempts to integrate ‘somatic’ or ‘embodied’ practices, it seems we run the risk of shaving them down to fit into the cerebral boxes with which we’ve become so comfortable.
But What is It, Really?
I often hear the mind-body connection defined as our ‘thoughts, feelings, beliefs, etc.’ affecting our physical and biological body. While not inaccurate, separating our cognitive processes from the physical seems to be at the root of this great body-mind divide that we experience as a culture. As Christine Caldwell, PhD, puts it in her recent book Bodyfulness, “Eastern traditions typically don’t separate the mind from the body,but treat mind-body unity as an achievement rather than an essential state. This unity must be physically as well as intellectually cultivated . . . The issue is about coming home. The body isn’t a thing we have, but an experience we are.”
At Home in Your Body
When we attempt to solely control our cognitive and physical processes through intellectual means, we lose this experience. Our mind does not control the body; rather is it housed within our bodies-part of the greater whole. What we typically think of as products of the mind, our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, are constantly occurring and moving within the body. When we recognize our bodies as a container for the movement of emotion we can release some of our society-wide desire for control and begin to familiarize ourselves with the feeling of being at home in our bodies—become curious, even, about their non-verbal language!
Tuning In
As I attempted to “remind myself why” I had gone to my boutique workout class this morning, (amidst the cues for ‘tiny pulses’) I noticed myself cognitively filtering through various reasons and stumbling over rationales for why I ‘should’ or ‘should not’ use them as motivators for engaging in physical exercise. I had become completely absorbed in my cerebral functions just moments after being asked to “tune in to that body-mind connection.”I decided to ask my body what she felt about all this. She continued to breathe, and move, and pulse, and lengthen, and shrink, and explore; grateful to be host to the mind’s inquiry. Ina world in which our intellectual skill are increasingly favored through technology and media, and heavily influenced by the external stimuli of those platforms, an integrative dialogue with the feeling wisdom of the body is more important than ever.
by Erica DeMeester, CTRS, WFR | Behavioral Addictions, Digital Disruptors, Mental Health, Screen Addiction, Tech Talk
by Erica Demeester, Rec Therapist
Your Inner Voice in the Digital Information Age
We live in a world where we have so much information at our fingertips that having to wait for something can seem unbearable. Not being able to immediately look up a question can seem irritating. There is a never-ending access to pictures, post, articles and any information imaginable; all we need to do is scroll down for more.
Is More Info Really Better?
At times it seems more is better, the more we know the smarter we become, the smarter we become the more we achieve. But what if that was not entirely true? If we are so concerned with what is going on around us then we may be missing what is truly going on inside of us.
Sit With Yourself
We all have the ability to listen to ourselves and our inner voice. It takes time, patience, practice and space. My work at reSTART has reaffirmed my belief that taking time to sit and listen to our inner voice without distraction is one of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves. This is especially true in a day where there are so many distractions. Our inner voice can lead us to paths of creativity, encouragement and direction.
Finding the Magic
Life is meant to have challenges and if we spend our time “numbing” negative feelings with technology or simply consumed with the mass of information available;we miss out on the magic. Personal growth takes patience and is uncomfortable. The magic is when we chose to grow from our challenges and take time to listen to our inner voice. If we do that,we will be able to achieve more than we ever thought was possible.
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