Dr. Aurit Lazerus, PsyD, is gamer and board game geek with a private clinical practice in Providence, Rhode Island. She uses playfulness and creativity to help her patients feel more understood, connected, balanced, self-aware, and empowered.
In this podcast, we chat about the mental health benefits of video games; what playfulness can look like, and how to incorporate it into one’s daily life; how it feels when video games are used to procrastinate; and whether video games can be addictive. We also discuss the difficult subject of abusive relationships, how they work, and how to both offer and get help.
Content warnings: suicide and abusive relationships.
Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Dr. Aurit Lazerus on Twitter
- Dr. Aurit Lazerus’s profile on Psychology Today
- “The Autotelic Personality: Finding Happiness in Flow” by C Wilson Meloncelli
- Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment by Amir Levine & Rachel Heller
- “Mazes and Monsters” (1982 TV movie starring Tom Hanks — available for free on YouTube)
- The Incredibles: “I’m not strong enough“
- “Depressed and Anxious? These Video Games Want to Help” by Laura Parker
- American Psychiatric Association’s Internet Gaming Disorder in DSM-5
- “The effects of video game play on the characteristics of saccadic eye movements” by David J.Mack & Uwe J.Ilg
- Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy Bancroft
- “7 Harmful & 7 Healing Responses When Someone Tells You They’ve Been Sexually Violated” by Dr. Aurit Lazerus
- RAINN: The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
- Samaritans: Preventing Suicide, Providing Hope (877-870-HOPE)
Use this form to email Dr. Lazerus:
Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:30 — 27.6MB) | Embed
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