if you've ever spent time with any teenage boys you probably won't be surprised to hear that 97% of them in the u.s. played video games somewhat regularly and with competitive eSports on the rise Gaming is only getting more popular but when does the Hobby turn into an unhealthy habit as Christina Quinn reports video game addiction is a reality for many but there is help 250 million people play fortnight's that's bigger than the population of most countries and it can be hard to stop playing as this woman who we'll call mary found out when her son's enthusiasm turned into an obsession his character was changing clearly he wasn't sleeping it wasn't thinking straight and he was starting to lie she did what most parents might do she took fortnight away but that backfired her son ran away and then one night they rushed him to the emergency room we felt that he may hurt himself she says the experts wanted to treat her son for depression then she found a doctor who had a different approach Eloqua no gia is a Harvard psychiatrist he's also a gamer and he believes gaming addiction is really about filling a void biological or substance use disorders are very different from behavioral addictions and he says cold turkey isn't the answer it's about finding balance his approach comes from first-hand experience he was addicted to video games I mean after 2 years of college I had less than a 2.0 GPA was on academic probation was on the cusp of failing out because I would just wake up every day and play video games for about 11 a.m. till 3 in the morning he was desperate for help and his dad desperate to help him sent him to an ashram in India to study yoga and meditation for three months and what I really found in India is a system that teaches you why that teaches you what is the nature of desire like why do you fall victim to your desires on some days and not victim to your desires on other days five senses that you try to change and then you notice that when you try to make a change you start to become uncomfortable this is part of his therapeutic approach one that now reaches thousands of gamers he calls it healthy gamer and he holds live sessions online in the we're gamers are on twitch and discord think about the person that you are they include guided meditations and frank discussions about mental health and they attract hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube gamers he says tend to be analytical thinkers he coaches them to connect with their emotions so a lot of the gamers that I work with are actually not aware of like what their negative emotions even are because they spend so many hours a day doing something that is literally shutting off their negative emotional circuitry Kanodia sees healthy gamer as a toolkit a way to reach gamers who may not be able to access the kind of one-on-one therapy he provided to Mary's son Alok has a way of talking to him with logic instead of cold turkey it was more moderation finding other domains in your life finding that balance between the online world and the real world Christina Craig joins me now hey how are you how's burrs kid doing he's doing a lot better yes so he's now playing you know it's playing in sports at school and he's just doing a lot better and things are doing really well you have to pay for this healthy gamer deal so what you see on Twitch and discord and these YouTube videos he's doing that for free but there is something you can you know you can go online to healthy gamer and they have kits for parents for teachers and for gamers but what's really interesting with the approach for parents is that he's giving them a guideline like okay if your kids into dungeon Dungeons and Dragons here's why and it's like some insight into sort of like the kids thinking if he's into fortnight here's why and sure it provides a framework for parents to get a better understanding of the appeal of these games because that you pay for that you pay towards that if I am I being cynical to suggest that healthy gamer is an entry point in in in he hopes that you take the next step I think he hopes to I think he hopes for that but he's also I mean there are so many videos as he's putting a lot of time into this you know free of charge how do we know if this is war I mean I know we have anecdotal how do you know how does one know that this is working if it is yeah I mean this it's sort of there's really no hard metric but they've told me that they've gotten really great feedback from gamers who are you know these are people who have seeking out they're seeking out for help because they are sort of desperate their lifestyles have changed they're much healthier and if you go to their YouTube comments which you know is usually like you go to YouTube comments you're like oh my goodness you're bracing yourself for the worst you're seeing the most positive feedback from gamers saying I wish this was in my life earlier this stuff's amazing and it's like wow especially from the gaming community to see such positive feedback so please representative great peace thanks so much Christine acquaintance