A note to WOW gamers

Massively Addictive

As millions continue to spend large quantities of time in virtual worlds, what effect is this having on the real one?

The eight million players of massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft don't really change the game's world. Even if you spend all night slaying an epic dragon, it'll still be alive again in time for the next team of intrepid adventurers. But in some cases, the compelling, addictive gameplay characteristic of many massively multiplayer games can have devastating impacts on the real worlds of their players.

After World of Warcraft's first expansion pack The Burning Crusade released last month, adding a new continent to the world and a sizable stack of new adventures for players to tackle, we were inundated with tales of Warcraft woe -- stories of broken marriages, ignored friends, lost jobs, and wrecked lives. If you want to play the game at the top level, a serious commitment of time is required, and that's leading some players to neglect real-world responsibilities.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Orzack sees similarities between game addiction and more traditional behavior disorders

Massively multiplayer addiction is a real phenomenon, and it's one that's being taken increasingly seriously by medical professionals. Facilities are being set up to combat it all over the world: Washington, Bejing, and most famously at the Smith & Jones addiction consultancy in the Netherlands. Smith & Jones compares the symptoms of MMO withdrawal to those characteristic of chemical dependence, and offers a detox program followed up with a series of real-life activities intended to replace the excitement of playing MMOs with equally engaging experiences that don't require 60-hour-a-week commitments.

Closer to home, more traditional avenues of support are available to those who feel their MMO habits are getting the better of them. Maressa Hecht Orzack, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and Director of the Computer Addiction Study Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, hears from six or seven people a day seeking treatment for gaming addictions. "Look at the fact that World of Warcraft now has eight million people playing it. Even if there are just five or 10 percent who can't stop, that's a large percentage, and I hear from a lot of them."

Dr. Orzack sees similarities between MMO addiction and more traditional behavior disorders such as compulsive gambling. "The same reward center in the brain is tapped -- the dopamine system. Gambling has all the components that go with these games," she explains, citing Solitaire as a simpler example of a game that can also lead to compulsive behavior.

Somatic Healing and Energy Psychology

I attended a 2 day workshop at the Nanyang Siang Pao Multipurpose Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I went with my son Ahmad Hilmi. He is learning so much so quickly , his path to healing himself is transforming him into a healer!
Learnt some great stuff that complemented my knowledge and practice of energy healing and discovered some interesting facts about Nanyang Siang Pao Press

About Nanyang Siang Pao: A Chinese Newspaper daily that has a philanthropic Foundation called Nanyang Press Foundation. It was the Foundation which organised the two day workshop apropriately titled The Body as an Ultimate Healer.They help single again women , youth , disaster victims and work with NGOS in areas needing social welfare help. It is the only newspaper in Malaysia that has such a foundation.

The workshop was conducted by Dr Maggie Phillips , a licensed psychologist practising in Oakland California.
She has a whole string of qualifications , has writen books and clinical papers and most of all , she is a great healer.

I met some wonderful people including a Salma, Chinese Muslim counselling student studying at MU and a very caring insurance agent named May , both of whom I had the honor of doing practises with.

The only negative I have to say on the workshop is that there was too little time and too many people at the workshop , almost 200 . I would have liked a much smaller workshop but it was more than ok for the small token sum paid, RM80 .
I ended up paying more than RM100 to order her book and perhaps would be poorer by RM 1000 if I enrolled for her online course .

It is just so comforting to have my work affirmed by her. I had known of the tremendous benefit of Somatic Healing and Energy Psychology via my Energy Healing work and also my Emotional Freedom Technique but to have her demonstrate almost exactly what I did in my practice and to have her demonstrate the beneficial effects of EFT simply made it whole for me . She has words to explain in terms people could easily relate to stuff I knew only in terms of spirituality. It gives me a language to communicate what I do to people not exposed to the subtel energies. I know she is a medical intuitive and was extremely sensitive to people's energies even though she did not say so . The way she knew what the client was feeling showed this. I was called to be a client one time and experienced this first hand!. It is difficult to find people who understood the work I do here in Melaka and even in Malaysia and I am glad someone is going around spreading this knowledge ! I feel less lonely now!