OCD, Anxiety and Depression affecting gaming

[Protocol-Zed]

Hey everyone, this is my first post and wish it was a more positive one 😅

 

I’m wondering if anyone suffers with mental illness and if it even affects playing games. Or if someone has experienced the same thing as me to ease my anxiety.

 

I’ve started this new account roughly 3 months ago because my other account had lots of shovelware on it and I didn’t like it. I recently played Spider-Man: Edge of Time for PS3 on because I got it as a Christmas gift. The problem is I played though 1/4 of the game on normal and then switched it to easy to make the rest of the game smooth sailing (since I don’t like upgrading until the end of the game and save up all the upgrade points 😅). I realized after that, hard difficulty only unlocks after beating the game on normal…..so I went ahead and completed the other 3/4 of the game on normal via chapter select. 

 

The issue is I got the trophy for completing the game on any difficulty (Complete ACT 3) when I completed it on easy and then got the trophy for completing the game on normal about 2 hours and 47 minutes later when I went back to do the remaining levels on normal through chapter select. I’ve checked other profiles and no one’s done it this way except for me so now it looks bad 😔 I’ve written a guide, done a couple of games I would hate to do again and got high up on some game leaderboards for fast completion time. I also care a lot about what others think about me so that’s also a factor. It’s been bothering me since I got the platinum because it looks off and doesn’t look like everyone else’s that’s played the game and making me want to start over yet again. My OCD doesn’t like how it looks and my Anxiety is flaring up and I’m worried someone will think I was illegitimate because it looks different 😩

 

I would like to know how other gamers that struggle with mental illness feel about this 

Edited March 7 by Protocol-Zed

[Rikapadupu]

6 hours ago, Protocol-Zed said:

I also care a lot about what others think about me so that’s also a factor. 

 

 

Imo this is major mistake.I play for my pleasure , how I want  and what I want.Gaming should be a happy place and not another thing to cause more stress. 

 

Anxiety and OCD are 2 beasts that are always hungry, you feed then, they will want more.

 

I think in the end the only person judging you is yourself. Play games and have fun.

 

If you really worried about this seek professional help.

Edited March 7 by Rikapadupu

[TheDarkKratos]

All I can contribute to this topic is one thing. Serious trophy-hunting & OCD is a volatile combination.

The 2 x things do not mix well together. That's a fact. I'm sure many people here can appreciate this.

 

[heavyrockerfin]

A few years ago when I really struggled with depression & anxiety I couldn't focus on any games longer than hour (give or take).

[dieselmanchild]

Hey man don’t worry about how your time stamps look too much, unless the trophies have popped in an order that’s virtually impossible I guarantee nobody will even notice or care.
 

My brother trophy hunts and also struggles with serious OCD and so I know that trying to ease your mind of such anxieties is a lot easier said than done, but I’m sure other people will chime in and tell you the same thing. Nobody is going to judge you or your list harder than yourself.

 

You’re not alone in your struggles either. Many people suffer from mental health issues and for many of us gaming is a refuge from the anxieties of the real world and those negative feelings it brings. I would try not to let it impact you too much. As fun as trophy hunting is, it’s not worth stressing over when your gaming could be bringing you relief instead. 

 

 

[VigilantCrow]

Seperate gaming and trophy hunting. Focus on the gaming side and actually having fun. If you need some sort of count for the OCD focus on beating game campaigns and using those for a count instead of the actual trophies.

 

It doesn't matter what other people think of your profile if you aren't heavily involved in the more extreme end of trophy hunting, where reputation determines who will play 9 and 10 difficulty coops with you.

 

 

[RedDevil757]

From a depression point. It's slowed me down. I can't process things as fast as before.
 

OCD. I picked up everything. I break everything. I look in every nook and cranny several times. I'll read the same thing 10s if not 100s of times. Watch cutscenes over and over because I feel I've missed something.

 

It's why I prefer old games. Nothing to obsess over. Its pure gameplay with them.

 

Games take me like 5x longer than the trophy guides say. 

Edited March 7 by RedDevil757

[fbdbh]

I'm not sure if you can apply anybody's advice here (do this, don't do that), with mental health issues, the number one thing is to seek out a professional and discuss the issue with them. Even if it's as insignificant as gaming and throphies, this is not an embarrassing issue and they will be ready to offer helpful advice. Especially if you already noticing these effects, the more time you play, the more this can be affecting your everyday life, as gaming also affects mental health, not just the other way around.

 

Others have mentioned this: "try not to care", but if the issue is serious, this is pretty much useless, isn't it? Please, try to be open to therapy.

[CymroMatt]

As someone who also suffers from OCD/Anxiety I appreciate this answer isn't easy as it looks to take on board. But from what I can tell bro it's just one game. In the grand scheme of things it won't really matter in the long run. You'll play hundreds of more games now and in the future and it'll be pushed further down your trophy list of previously completed games and hopefully even further from your mind. The more you think about it the more it'll bother you. You can always hide the game from your profile if that helps at all.. 

 

Alternatively if these issues are getting on top of you I would deeply consider asking for some help. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Look after yourself.

Edited March 7 by CymroMatt

[Maahniac]

Oh man, I can relate. I'm very bothered about popping trophies in an "unnatural order", but it has gotten a lot better with age. Lately I've been more "ugh, I didn't mean to pop that trophy there, but oh well" than I were 10 years ago. I think it's because some of us view trophies as a collection, and so we would like them in a neat and "perfect" order. 

 

At the end of the day, you are indeed the only one bothered by the "faults" of your own trophies. Never have I ever looked at someone's trophies and thought "Hmm, why did he unlock that trophy so shortly after that one, is that even possible?" or stuff like that, but I will scrutinize my own list to death. I still do to a certain degree, but like I said, I get over it quicklier now. 

 

Timestamps really can be a devil though, if you are prone to OCD. Sometimes I wish Sony would just remove them, and have trophies be timestamp-free, or perhaps just have the date they were earned, and not the time they unlocked. But that's obviously out of our control and ultimately futile to worry about.

 

I don't know if my post helps, but I've been exactly where you are, and still am, but to a lesser degree. My best advice is to just remember that what's important it playing the games, and how the trophies pop, when they do, in what order they do and so on, doesn't really matter. 

[HaserPL]

A little-known secret, nobody gives a damn about your account. You're the only one who thinks that's the case, but it isn't. When you realize that, you will feel much better.

[Helyx]

I used to struggle with depression and anxiety. I still do, but I used to, too.

[Colin_Raleigh]

First off, let me say for the record that is definitely an interesting topic for discussion. I know such things can take some serious doing in trying to deal with. This isn't easy for me to admit, but for the past year and a half I've been dealing with severe depression issues. A traumatic, damaging, and equally embarrassing experience occured in my offline life that not only gave me severe depression but possibly PTSD as well. If anything, gaming has helped to a certain extent in terms of dealing with said issues. For example, playing Mortal Kombat and doing the violent finishing moves in the game has at times felt quite therapeutic. A good way of getting out frustrations while coming to terms with what I'm going through continues to be a very difficult work in progress. 

[Hitman_Spinksy1]

I struggle with severe depression and PTSD and I use gaming to escape the world, block the thoughts in my head and to drown out noise. I also have OCD though it don't look like it by my profile but I wasn't always a trophy hunter until I started using this site more frequently and now I have hundreds of spreadsheets from series I want to play down to my backlog in a table with hours, difficulty, missables etc. I've even tried going through my backlog alphabetically to make it look nicer as I scroll through but it's more about finding coping mechanisms and what works for one person might not work for another. 

A major rule I hear among trophy hunters is to stick to one game at a time but I've started playing 2 games at a time and that works so much better for me, especially with massive games where you can split them up easier and avoid burn out. Now I play one game in the day and another in the evening and I can swap as soon as I start getting bored instead of slogging through a game you enjoyed to begin with and felt like a job by the end.  

[Eblait]

7 hours ago, Protocol-Zed said:

The issue is I got the trophy for completing the game on any difficulty (Complete ACT 3) when I completed it on easy and then got the trophy for completing the game on normal about 2 hours and 47 minutes later when I went back to do the remaining levels on normal through chapter select. I’ve checked other profiles and no one’s done it this way except for me so now it looks bad 😔

 

I've never played the game, but apparently there's an epilogue after Act 3 and then the trophy for completing the game pops. So from one perspective, it looks like you completed Act 3, took a break and then came back to finish the game.

 

Another perspective might be that you've cleared on Easy, then did a speed run on Normal. A quick search on YouTube shows speedruns at less than 2 hours.

 

The point is: it doesn't matter. It doesn't look like you've done anything illegitimate at all, so don't worry about what other people think of how you got the trophies. If the game allows you to unlock in the manner you did, then it's totally fine.

[RedDevil757]

1 hour ago, HaserPL said:

A little-known secret, nobody gives a damn about your account. You're the only one who thinks that's the case, but it isn't. When you realize that, you will feel much better.

That means nothing to OCD.

[USMC-Punisher-7]

Bipolar, ADHD, and PTSD here.  I can see how the OCD could f$%k with you on the timestamp thing.  I had to create a new account, got locked out of the old cause I couldn't access the email anymore, thus new account created.  I can't stop myself from constantly comparing my old and new, have had to regain all plats I was willing to duplicate, get pissed when they seem harder the second time.  My most recent plat I had to literally double the hours (around 100 total) for the exact same issue, I had no idea that difficulty played a role, thus wasted about 50 hours thinking I was just making my grind easier. 

 

I totally get everything your saying.  My only advice, gaming is one of two things, it's either a contributor or a detractor to your mental illness.  You don't get to choose your disability, but you do get to choose your outlets, choose wisely, as you don't want gaming (assuming something you love) to become a trigger.  A lot of people view work as hell, or a place to escape hell, gaming is the same for me, I choose it as a mechanism to escape hell. 

 

Semper Fi,

Neil 

[x49ersblitzkreig]

No matter the person, depression, anxiety, and OCD can affect gaming and a lot more than that.  It happens to the best of us but things will get better eventually. I've been there b4. I wish you the best.

[Xenoblast91]

Recently, I experienced chronic depression resulting from the sudden loss of a friendship, which significantly hindered my gaming style. I stopped for about 2 months without wanting to know nothing as I couldn't focus on anything. However, I have a slight OCD, but the feelings were bigger than it, so I refocused it on other things. Time helped me through, and reading some news about delisting games sparked the fire to try to play again. I started with something easy, friendly and gradually helped me to stabilized my mood. Afterward and by consciously focusing on important stuff, I was able to keep track again and that allowed me to play once again as I was used to.

 

On anxiety, that's something I try to avoid thinking, but attempting to relax by avoiding hurting thoughts through other type of activities can actually help you to overcome several episodes of unavoidable feelings of unease. And gaming helps me to keep a goal, even if it's irrelevant to the real world, it gives me a reason to keep me busy in some way. That way, I'm forced to achieve something that lately will make me proud to look back and say “hey, I managed to beat that… what else I can beat too?”. And then, somehow, you gain confidence and keep you pushing forward.

 

Wish you the best, and if you don't feel apt to continue, just stay still. Time doesn't matter, it's yours, and nobody should ever force you to move on if you don't want it willingly. Life will find its way to you, even if you don't feel that way. Express your feelings and talk about them, and if you don't feel heard or at least empathic with them, move on. Taking your thoughts and pondering, challenging and comprehending them is the best way to find peace. Have fun. 🙂

[colia100]

I wouldn't worry about it buddy, in this day of autopops, save transfers and the likes, pretty much everyone has something off on their account. Not to mention the missing timestamp thing from the beginning of the ps3 era.

 

And I can imagine it's harder to do than to say, but don't worry so much about what people think, that's just a formula for anxiety. Trust me, people are nowhere near as harsh as you believe they are, and definitely not about gaming and profiles. Your profile is for you, so do what makes you happy. Have fun!

[IAmYingCai]

5 minutes ago, colia100 said:

Not to mention the missing timestamp thing from the beginning of the ps3 era.

Missing timestamps are the worst. One of the reasons I abandoned my original account is because I had a bunch of missing timestamps and it bugged tf outta me. 

 

I have serious OCD for my profile. I must get all platinums, I must get game series in order on my list as best I can, I must get all fromsoft games on major milestones... It gets real annoying having to plan things out, but I always feel a bit of happiness when I look back at it. Means nothing to anyone else, but means a lot to me. 

[ruexnimbus]

I was born with Tourette's and have the comorbid cocktail of OCD, anxiety and ADHD. I used to take all sorts of antipsychotics as a minor to control it for years until about 18 because they cause other problems after then. I've always loved the stimulation of gaming but it still often triggers my tics and such. Sometimes the anxiety would be like sustained imminent death. Eventually I felt like it's pointless to care about it, the whole thing. If everything is hell, is anything really hell? Might as well embrace it.

[bud-arc]

OCD and trophy hunting go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. Sometimes I'll run into a game that I can't 100% and it ruins my "streak," then I get depressed and stop playing games for months at a time.

 

Anxiety makes me feel like time is constantly running out; the walls are closing in on me. There's never enough time. I try to balance movies, TV shows, games, music, video games, etc., but I can't seem to keep up. I'm constantly drowning. There's not enough time in a day. Life is passing me by.

 

Depression just makes me realize none of this really matters, no one cares about me, I'm all alone in the world with my petty, insignificant problems, and it just makes me want to die.

 

So yeah, hand in hand.