GFT: Geek Family Therapy

Geek Family Therapy Podcast

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Finding yourself in pop culture and Ghost hunting

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#7: Kat got to explore one of her fandoms, geeky likes, nerd like passions… whatever you want to call it… But she went to see Eastern State Penitentiary.  It is a jail that was built in 1829 and closed in 1971.  This did pique Kat’s love of history (especially haunted history) and some psychological aspects in learning that when the prison first opened everyone was brought in to single cells with hoods on their heads so no one knew who they were, and their exercise yard was attached to their cells….individual exercise yards. Imagine doing 15 years of solitary confinement,  because that is what it is.

Lea and Kat sat and discussed the importance of being able to find super hero’s or any comic character that look like us. The importance of being able to see that even though we are minorities that we can find someone to look up to even if they are make believe.  In therapy we use pop figures (not really Funko Pops) to help get children who do not know how to verbally identify their emotions to at least begin with physical representation with characters such as Winnie the pooh or Kat’s  favorites the emotes.  (www.emotes.com), little action figure monsters that help children, identify, understand and express their emotions. Kat loves these toys.  But with some of our  older clients toys aren’t good enough Kat  has utilized Comicspedia to help find comic books that will help clients express themselves by having similar situations the children might be going through.  www.comicspedia.net Lastly Kat mentions Geek Therapy’s own data base they are still compiling, which when complete will have access to The Geek Therapy library can be found https://www.geektherapy.com/?s=library

If you are like Kat and are trying to find more Latino/a superhero check out buzzfeeds list of the 15 top Latino Superhero’s you need to know

https://www.buzzfeed.com/pablovaldivia/incredible-latino-superheroes-you-need-to-know?utm_term=.doPg1Y0K6#.tiJVpwOE5

If you know any please let us know on our twitter

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Trauma Porn & new home tech

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#3: Starting off, we are apologizing for Lea & Kat sounding very congested, as tree sex attempts to kill them by hindering their breathing.

Kat gets to gush about her new computer and software she is using to record and edit with (thanks Shannon.) Because new tech is always fun to talk about, and gush about, and get and play with.

Why are people so fascinated by watching bad things happen?  As a society when there is a car accident we slow down to see what is going on, to see the chaos, the carnage, we pray that the people are okay while secretly hoping there is blood.  WHY????  Daddy O Five of YouTube fame is the car wreck.  People have stopped on his channel to watch him and his wife “prank” his children.   All of the pranks have bordered on emotional and verbal abuse, where they curse at their children and call them names, things that we tell our children not to do to other children and here are grown adults doing it to their own children.  This channel has over 700,000 followers and it took way too many videos for someone to finally say that this was not right.  They have been interviewed by several different media outlets and finally issued a very heavily scripted apology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoYTdYRPPpw&t=20s

This family has posted videos clearly showing that their youngest child has emotion issues, where he has self harmed, and instead of getting him help they belittle him and punish him.  the youngest also is suffering from encopresis or he is playing with his feces which is evidence of developmental regression. Again, with these signs the family did not seek out help but decided to ridicule him on video, in front of over 700K people.

Finally the biological mother has gotten custody of two of the children.

http://www.distractify.com/trending/2017/05/02/1tHJOP/daddyofive-children-emergency-custody?utm_content=inf_470_53_2&tse_id=INF_8293d9e02f7b11e7a543c52ccdba27e5

Listen to the rant and how the decisions can be made.

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Is it really Video Game Addiction?

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#2: It seems many people believe they have a family member or loved one who is addicted to video games.  Are they really?  Are video games as bad as people think they are or is video game addiction just a new psychological buzz word.  This episode Lea and Kat discuss Video Game addiction; is it a diagnosis? What are the criteria? How did it first start? How can it be treated? And, how can it be prevented?

This episode is very heavy and loaded with some history, some facts, and diagnostic criteria.  This episode is also a little longer than we would normally want it to be, but again there is a lot of information that needed to be shared.

I hate to give more mention but I did quote Phillip Zimbardo’s Ted Talk: The Demise of Guys?  https://www.ted.com/talks/zimchallenge  Zimbardo believes that the boys are struggling educationally and financially due to their access to video games.  This goes to basic psych 101 concept of Freud’s Id, Ego, and Super Ego.  The id is where all desires and impulses are manifested.  Zimbardo believes that due to video games and internet porn’s  instant gratification boys are unwilling and unable to develop relationships with people they desire.  Zimbardo also makes some claims that sound as if that now that video games are prevalent that boys and men are searching form more male companionship, but not wanting to gain intimate relationships with someone they desire.

We discuss addiction and it’s diagnosis from the DSM 5  as well the fact that Video Game Addiction is in section 3: Condition’s for Further Study, in this section is documented as Internet Gaming Disorder, which describes what criteria will be looking for to diagnose someone with this disorder as well as the studies that still need to be done to place the disorder in the next edition.  The DSM states that they want to continue the studies with ages 12-20 year olds. With the 2016 video Game Statistics we find that the age of the average gamer is 35 years old.

You can see the study here: http://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/2016-video-game-statistics-and-trends/

Lastly, we discuss some of the horrible reasons why people believe that Video Game Addiction is a real diagnosis. Discussing Shawn Woolley who died by suicide and is believed to be due to playing Ever Quest, as well as many different  people whose deaths are said to be caused to their many hours of playing video games.

Please feel free to contact Lea @LFBee and Kat @KatMFT to comment

We also have an official twitter @GeeksFamTherapy  and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GeeksFamilyTherapy/

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