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Capturing the Inner Mind Through Comics: Marbles by Ellen Forney

October 7, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Ever want to know what it’s like to be bipolar? Yeah, probably not, but now that I’ve mentioned it, I bet you’re curious.

One thing about being in school and learning about all the things that can possibly go wrong in the brain is that it makes you wonder what it’s like to be in that person’s skin. Or at least it makes me wonder.

Art is one of the ways that we can get closer to someone’s experience. It has a way of communicating emotion and thought in a way that just words can’t. Comics make it even easier, being able to use language but emphasize it in just the right way as to make the creator’s world come to life.

(Image via MarblesbyEllenForney.com)

Recently I had the chance to read Marbles by Ellen Forney. Her art style makes the book an easy read that is also pleasing to the eye. The book is very informative and presents the information in an easy to digest way, but it is also a doorway into her struggle with being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At times it feels like you’re right there with her.

She brings in drawings from her sketchbook when she was first diagnosed with bipolar as well as snippets from therapy sessions with her psychiatrist to really capture her experience. Her ups and downs, her struggle with being an artist on medication, her “coming out” as bipolar to her friends and family are all captured beautifully in her art.

(Image via JS Online)

As a clinician, it really helps to have an insider’s view into the experience of a disorder (I don’t like pathologizing people, but for the ease of communication, I use the word disorder here). Only having my own internal experience, it can be hard to put myself in a client’s shoes. Yes, there are autobiographical books out there about almost every condition you can think of. However, there is something about seeing it graphically that makes the story really sink in. For this reason I appreciate cartoonists like Ellen Forney, Darryl Cunningham (Psychiatric Tales), Allie Brosh (Hyperbole and a Half) and Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Are You My Mother?) who are brave enough to put their story out there for everyone to see.

Marbles is a book anyone interested in understanding the bipolar experience should pick up. Any clinician working with someone who is bipolar should read this book, in order to better understand their clients. It could also be helpful for friends or family members who have someone who is bipolar in their lives, especially if they are having a difficult time understanding their loved one’s behavior.

(Image via The Guardian)

Forney makes it clear that her experience is her own, and that there are many different types of bipolar disorder, and that each person’s experience is different. She had it easy in someways, in others, it was like her world fell apart.

The bottom line is, you should read this book if you have had contact with, or plan on working with, someone who is bipolar. Even if you aren’t somehow connected to someone who is bipolar Forney’s “Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo & Me” her book is worth every page.

It will give you a rare glimpse into a world that can be particularly difficult to understand.

GaymerX: Where Games Go to Become Fabulous

October 3, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

This week, GaymerX announced the launch of GaymerX2, their second annual event. GaymerX is an LGBT focused gaming convention that emphasizes inclusivity in the gaming community. Their motto is, “Everyone Games.”

(Image via GaymerConnect)

They lived up to their motto this year at their inaugural event in August. All types of people were there to play games, talk about games, have their voices heard and….party. There were people of all genders, sexual orientations (it’s for straight people too!), and cultures in attendance. GaymerX was the first convention of it’s kind, and all I can say is: It’s about time.

For their first year, they did an amazing job of holding things together. The venue (the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco’s Japantown), was rather small. Which can be expected, since they expected a much smaller number of people to attend. Apparently, the need for a safe space to be yourself (as a gamer, and as a member of the LGBT community) was greater than expected.

Even with the small venue and a few technical difficulties here and there, the convention was definitely a success (and a triumph, as Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS in the Portal games, sang at the closing of the con). There were no complaints from the hotel, and security only reported one minor incident over the course of the event. This was no surprise for those who spent time talking to the exhibitors, panelists, attendees and staff. Everyone was polite, happy, helpful, and excited to be there; the convention oozed positivity. So much so that one man proposed to his boyfriend with the help of Ellen McLain singing in the voice of GLaDOS.

(Image via Have a Gay Day)

Next year, the event will be even better. It will be held July 11-13 at the Intercontinental San Francisco. They’ve upgraded from 2 days to 3, and the hotel is much larger with more room for games, panels, and exhibitors. Oh, and for the drinking and the concert. Can’t forget those!

(Image via GaymerConnect)

Another upgrade provided for next year will be that each attendee’s badge will include their preferred gender pronoun on it. This year, many people brought up the fact that this was the first time they were at a con where people asked them what their preferred pronouns were. Next year, it’ll be right on the badge.

Why is this important? In the mainstream world, we all are fit into these male and female boxes. In reality, it sometimes doesn’t work that way. Even in the LGBT community, we forget that sometimes, people don’t fit into those boxes. We see someone who looks female and assume they are, but when you ask them…they may go by male pronouns or something you’ve never even heard of. By giving others the choice to identify the way they’d like to, it helps create a safe space where people are empowered to be who they are.

That brings me to why I’m even talking about this. People who are different from the norm, whether it be that they’re gay, black, Latino, handicapped, female, or mentally ill (that list is not all inclusive, there are many more), need to feel represented and accepted in society. I cannot stress how important it is for them to have a safe space to be who they are and enjoy what they love.

(Image via Kegan Marling)

Safe spaces provide us the capacity to be authentic and thrive. It’s important in the therapeutic process, as well as in life. It is a place to feel normal, to connect with others, and to heal. This is exactly what GaymerX does.

The other thing that makes a convention like this so empowering is the ability to find others who you can relate to. It creates a community where you can feel normal and feel like you’re not weird. GaymerX created GaymerConnect for that reason, before the first con even started. It’s an online community to talk to others about games and other geeky things, as well as to find those who like the same games as you so you can play together! You can even level up and build your stats. It’s awesome.

GaymerX is also where I found out about Extra-Life, which is only a month away! (I will always make a shameless plug to help the kids, donations are always welcome!)

Basically, GaymerX was awesome, and I was blown away at how amazing the people were, and the vibe I got from the convention. Next year looks to be even better, and I can’t wait. Who knows, maybe even we can get a mental health panel going?

Oh, and remember the couple who got engaged this year? Yeah…they’re getting married at GaymerX2, and everyone’s invited!

(Image via GaymerConnect on Facebook)

Born This Way: The Social History of Video Games

September 30, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Games have long been a way of socializing. Playing tag or hide and go seek as children, spin the bottle or truth or dare as teenagers, and games of charades or poker as adults are all ways we have come together as people to play. They’re also many of the ways we’ve learned to co-exist and interact with others.

Games in general bring people together for a common cause or goal. We feel safe to be ourselves within the rules of the game, and become more open to making friends by working towards the game objective. Games help us learn to work together with others as well as to discern what others are thinking, which are the building blocks to empathy.

(Image via WebMD)

A natural progression of games as a socialization tool leads us to video games.

When doing some research on the web for this post, I found many articles about video games and socialization. Almost all of them covered the stereotypical image of a gamer locked alone in their room with a controller in hand, and how that image has changed due to games becoming more social. I have a different take on this topic: Video games were meant to be social from the beginning.

Anyone remember when consoles came with two controllers?

(Image via All Gen Gamers)

Yeah, those were the days. When systems like the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis came with two controllers, it was like we were expected to play with other people. It seems like the games from that era were also made to be simple to play with others. Just hit start to jump in and off you go!

Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country, Mortal Kombat, Sonic the Hedgehog, Toejam and Earl, the list goes on. All of these games were so simple to play with your friends and family, because it was easy to join in and the majority of games had multiplayer options.

Some of my fondest memories are of coming home after school with my best friend and playing Mario Kart until my mom came home and said it was time for dinner. Others include playing Jeopardy Junior on the NES with my mom (…and the whole family, who always jumped in when I took too long to type in the answer).

Even single player games like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time became social, because my entire group of friends would come over to play. When one of us couldn’t figure out a puzzle or had a hard time with a platforming piece, we would all jump in to help.

(Image via Pop Give)

Ocarina of Time came out on one of the first systems to only have one controller included. While my friends and I made it a social experience, it seems as though around this time many more games were made to be for a single player. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of multiplayer games at the time too, but in order to play with others, you had to spend more money on another controller, and there were so many appealing single player games. The big games for me around that time were Legend of Zelda for Nintendo 64 and Final Fantasy VII for Playstation, for example.

This is where I believe the loner stereotype started to take shape. Graphics became better, games could be longer, and story could have more depth. RPGs like the Final Fantasy series would be compared in reviews by the number of hours of gameplay. With the price of games going up, I also think people wanted to make sure they were getting their money’s worth when they purchased a title.

With longer single player games that were high quality, it’s no wonder more people were sitting in their rooms alone with a controller to keep them company. They had to in order to get through the stories.

(Image via PsyPost)

When Xbox and Playstation 2 were coming out, everyone was looking at the internet as the way of socialization. Those consoles were the first to have internet as a way of playing with others, although for PS2, you needed to purchase their broadband device (which had very few games that were compatible with it) and Xbox required a paid Xbox Live membership (which is still required to this day).

The next generation, PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii, shows the current evolution of how playing with others works.

Sony decided that because it was behind the times with internet play, they would make it free for their gamers. This cut the barrier that Xbox had created with the pay for online play service, Xbox Live. They also made it possible to connect up to 7 controllers to the system (although who is gonna buy 6 more controllers?).

For Xbox 360 Microsoft kept things pretty much the same with their Xbox Live service, but it seems as though because of the pay for play service, a lot of people play online on Xbox. Most of those I’ve talked to with a PS3 don’t play online, but the Xbox players do. Many because they want to get their money’s worth.

For both of these systems (but in my honest opinion, more so with the Xbox) it can be difficult to figure out how to play together. I bought my fiance an Xbox for her birthday, and she doesn’t want to buy an Xbox Live membership. We tried to figure out how to play Halo 4 with each other…and it took forever. It seems as though the days of hanging out with friends at home and playing together are gone. Almost everything has been made easy to do online, but offline….good luck.

She and my roommate were looking for a game to play together yesterday…and they spent 15 minutes looking for something and gave up. You guys…it is ridiculous the number of games we have in our apartment, and they could not find a single one to play together. The days of picking up 2 controllers and hitting start to play together are gone.

Nintendo went a whole different direction with the Wii. You can play online with friends, but the best part is the ability to play and be active with friends in your own living room. Granted, you have to buy a bunch of controllers for many games, but some games let you take turns with your friends using just one controller. Nintendo decided that in person socialization was the way to go. Many game developers have created party games for the Wii to make it central to any gathering.

(Image via The Sun)

I’m not saying that Microsoft and Sony have ruined games as a means of socializing. Xbox and PS3 have some awesome social games, like Rock Band and Buzz, both designed for a larger group of people to play together and enjoy, even if they aren’t the ones playing the game.

What I’m saying is that console gaming has evolved. From a very social activity, to a less social activity, to a more social activity that is difficult to do in home, but awesome for over the net.

Some of the changes in gaming over the years have led to the image of the geeky guy locked in his dark bedroom, but we’re moving back toward a social way of being as gamers.

Giving geeky loner guy a headset gives him the capability of meeting others with his interests, and making new friends. Anonymity gives us more confidence because no one can see our face and we can always change our name (which can have negative results as well, a topic for another day).

As someone who plays games with friends online on her laptop, I get how the interconnectedness of being online feels awesome. It’s easy to keep track of friends, what they’re playing, and talk to people you otherwise might lose contact with.

I just wish it was easier to play with my friends in my own living room.

(Or at least easier to play capture the flag co-op with my fiance…competitive play could ruin my relationship…)

(Image via Wired)

How to Pass the Jedi Trials (or Successfully Turn 30)

September 26, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Everyone complains about getting older. I don’t think that it’s getting older that sucks, but that it’s feeling older that sucks.

Monday was my 30th birthday. For years I have been dreading this day. I started getting anxious around when I hit 25, because I was no longer in that 18-24 age bracket, but was now in the 25-33 one.

Every birthday has been another reminder that I was that much closer to 30. My best friend is 5 years younger than me, and loves to tease me. So her telling me how old I am at every opportunity has not helped the situation. The anxiety just grew and grew.

(Image via Candorville)

On top of that, every year I get anxious about what plans to make for my birthday. Do I just hang at home with the roommate? Do I go out to dinner with family? Do I have a party? Every year I seem to make the wrong decision and I regret the choice I made (at least partly) the next day.

So this year, the anxiety was starting to get overwhelming. 30 is a big day to plan. I just didn’t want a lame 30th birthday. Good thing the problem was taken off my hands. My sneaky fiance planned a surprise party with all of my family and friends. The kicker: it was a Star Wars themed party.

They played the imperial march when I walked in. There were red and black and green and black streamers everywhere, Star Wars banners, Star Wars plates, Darth Vader napkins, food named after Star Wars characters, Star Wars cookies to decorate, a Star Wars themed drink list and a Darth Maul cake to top it all off.

I loved every minute of it. My family and friends played Star Wars themed party games with me. One where we each had a character’s name on our backs and had to ask yes or no questions to figure out who we were. We also played pin the lightsaber on Darth Vader. My fiance even taught me some lightsaber sparring techniques.

It was like being a kid again, which is part of what made it so great. The party was planned to be just like the parties I used to have when I was younger. Themed parties with my family and friends, games, cake, presents and fun. Throw in a little alcohol and it becomes an adult party!

My anxieties about getting older lessened and I was able to relax and enjoy myself. 30 was starting to seem more like just another year. A year that I could manage.

I guess my point is that Star Wars (or anything else for that matter) isn’t just for kids. Kids play sports, read books, play games, watch cartoons, eat junk food, and talk to their friends to relax. So do adults. Coping skills are coping skills. Growing up and taking on more responsibility doesn’t mean we have to give up the things we love.

As long as things are done in moderation, our hobbies and interests are healthy.

My family and friends all chipped in to buy me the Millennium Falcon LEGO set that I’ve been asking for for years. It’s just about the only thing I wanted for my birthday, and it’s freakin’ awesome. I spent the last day of my 20’s building half of it (it has 2 giant instruction manuals and 1325 pieces) and watching the original Star Wars trilogy with my fiance.

I also spent the first day of my 30’s working, studying, going to class, and feeling sick from overeating. The symbolism is not lost on me.

But I will always remember how my loved ones embraced me and my passions in order to help me relax and feel young.

(It’s a good thing they did, too…because if my birthday had sucked I just would have force choked them all.)

Before writing this post, my fiance and I got into a debate about why I like Star Wars so much. I said “I just like Star Wars”. She said there was more to it, something deeper, and she’s probably right.

Star Wars is all about transition and change. Luke loses his Aunt and Uncle and goes on an adventure where he finds out so much more about who he is, where he came from, and who he wants to be. There just happens to be robots and lasers and crazy religions that give people superpowers.

When I look at the times I spent watching the movies over and over again, they were all during times of change. Middle school, starting college, and after I finished my undergrad.

Maybe there’s something about Star Wars that helps people cope, other than it just making them feel young. Maybe it’s the story behind the awesome effects and science fiction.

Or maybe its just that it’s Star Wars.

(Image via io9)

What all-ages geek love has helped you cope and live a healthy life?

Amazon Wish List: Geek Therapy Essentials

September 23, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

With my birthday being today, I was tasked over the past few weeks with creating an Amazon wishlist of all the things I wanted. On the list went a bunch of video games, some camping supplies, a LEGO Millennium Falcon set, and a bunch of books. (As if I didn’t have enough to read!)

I was surprised to find in my stroll through Amazon, a bountiful amount of geek x psych. The idea of doing geek therapy just truly became apparent to me this past summer and the Geek Therapy podcast had just begun last summer. I wanted to share my “discovery” in the hopes that the existence of these tomes becomes less surprising and more well read:

Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight by Travis Langley, Dennis O’Neil and Michael Uslan

The now Walmart Best Seller (I’m not kidding, look it up) has everyone wondering who is the Bat, really. The book promises to answer what seems like more obvious questions like “Does Batman have PTSD?” to more mysterious ones like “Why does this superhero without superpowers fascinate us?” and “What does that fascination say about us?” I’m looking forward to finding out what it means about my bat-obsessed fiance before I get myself in too deep. (j/k)

(Image via GoodReads)

Using Superheroes in Counseling and Play Therapy by Lawrence Rubin PhD

Rubin’s book covers a couple of different tropes from Batman to Star Wars, the Incredible Hulk and back around to Superman. What I am looking forward to is the theory that he believes that, “not only can superheroes assist in clinical work with children, but Rubin demonstrates how they can facilitate growth and change with teen[s] and adults.” Play therapy is often defined as allowing younger clients to act and play out the thoughts and emotions that they can’t put words to. In reality the practice of using our actions to tell more than words is something that has no age limit.

Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Skills for Mental Health Professionals: A Popular Culture Casebook Approach by Alan Schwitzer and Lawrence Rubin

I’m really looking forward to having some guidelines for how to actually apply all of my musings about therapeutic geekery to my future practice. This larger tome is not for the faint of heart. It’s a legit text book. Rubin goes much broader to discuss in depth both a wider range of skill sets for practicing therapists including,“diagnosis, case conceptualization, and treatment planning.” Being able to translate geek therapy through these skill sets is absolutely essential to running your own practice as a geek therapist. Unfortunately I may have to wait until after I’m done with school to devour this book during my internships.

Reset: Psychotherapy and Video Games, 2nd Edition by Mike Langlois

Both the most targeted towards my personal interests as well as the least expensive, this e-book only text is actually the first up to bat on my personal reading list. It reveals some pretty significant findings like that the “military has discovered that video games decrease symptoms of PTSD in veterans” and others. I don’t have a kindle, but I do have the kindle app on my phone and will be sneaking in a few pages…er…screens between client work, school work and vigilante-ing…er…gaming…er…house cleaning.

(Image via GamePolitics.com)

If you’ve read, or heard rumour of any of these books please leave your thoughts about them in the comments on the individual page for this post! Thanks.

WoW: World of Zencraft?

September 19, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Last week, Blizzard Entertainment released their latest patch in World of Warcraft, called the Siege of Orgrimmar. With it came a lot of new content (including a new island to explore, and a new raid), interesting storyline, and a lot of excitement.

Most people were excited just to be able to be the first to run through the new content, show it who’s boss, and get the new achievements and mad loots.

For me, it has been a different kind of exploration that started when the Mists of Pandaria expansion came out last year.

The WoW storyline has always interested me (enough that I’ve read a few of the novels) and has been able to hold player’s attention for years. The Pandaria expansion added a whole other level to how we think about storytelling.

In Pandaria, a person’s negative emotions (no matter how deeply buried) manage to manifest themselves in a very physical way in the form of Sha.

(Image via WoWWiki.com)

In a sense, throughout the expansion, you have to fight your own demons. You take charge and purge yourself, others, and the land of these negative emotions that can take over such as anger, despair and fear.

In the new patch content, you have to save others’ souls by purging them of the influence of the sha and save them from being possessed by sorrow, gloom, misery, sorrow and anguish.

There’s even a guardian who blocks your path. When you tell him that you’re trying to cleanse the world and save everyone, he says that you are too prideful to pass. This is where you really have to face yourself, as your pride manifests and you must defeat it to move on.

This is as far as I have made it into the new raid, but I’m intrigued. I feel that most people just move past this deep, potentially powerful, content as though it’s just something else to hack away at. If you look closely, this storyline has some potential to heal. My guildmate even joked about the game turning into a cheap self-help book.

If a therapist played with their client, think about how healing it may be to work through negative emotions and literally grapple with them, and eventually take them down. How awesome might it feel for a teenager dealing with depression to take out the Sha of Despair (who yells out comments about giving up). How empowered might someone struggling with controlling their temper feel when they’ve defeated the Sha of Anger? Those are only a couple of examples.

(Image via AdventuresInPoorTaste.com)

The last piece I wanted to touch on is the way the game handles good and evil. In general, most people think of the Alliance as the good guys, and the Horde as the bad guys (well, most people who haven’t played WoW or only play a little). In actuality, both sides have their faults and their virtues. They fight against the same evils again and again. They just don’t see eye to eye on how to get it done, and let old wounds get in the way.

In Mists of Pandaria, both sides are put in their place by the Pandaren, who feel them both arrogant and war hungry. The final boss in the new expansion is the Horde’s leader, Garrosh Hellscream. The Horde is rebelling to take him out because they’ve seen him do some horrible things. They team up with the Alliance to try to put someone more honorable and wise in his place.

(Image via Polygon)

I don’t know how it turns out, but the fact is that even the “bad guys” can have some humanity. And some acts are just too far past the line to accept.

I’m excited to see what happens…if my guild can ever make it past the second boss.