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Mental Health and The Sims - How has it helped you?
ChuChuExpress
Posts: 3,228 Member
Mental Illness affects us all at some time during our lives, and it can be bought on by a multitude of reasons. There are various ways to help someone cope, and actually, playing the Sims can be one of those ways. Talking to others helps too. It's especially important to keep an eye on the mental wellbeing of ourselves, as well as others during these difficult times.
I've got ADHD and Dyspraxia. I'm also on the spectrum. The sims helps me to escape the reality of my special needs. It also reminds me that we're not perfect. In some tasks, we may struggle, but in others, we're pretty good at.
How has the Sims helped you with your Mental Health? Also opening this up to simmers with special needs.
In a world where you can be anything, be kind - Caroline Flack
I've got ADHD and Dyspraxia. I'm also on the spectrum. The sims helps me to escape the reality of my special needs. It also reminds me that we're not perfect. In some tasks, we may struggle, but in others, we're pretty good at.
How has the Sims helped you with your Mental Health? Also opening this up to simmers with special needs.
Sims 4 Family: Benjamin, Shine, Princess Roddy, Sophia and Hamish Furystrykar and Shelly Heart. Princess Roddy is my avatar, and he's a boy!
Let those smiles spread!
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When I joined Sims forums I honestly didn't think I would outlive a month. I was told by doctors that I would likely die with my gallbladder removal surgery. So I figured, well I have a month, might as well suggest toddlers so if I were to go, at least I would leave a legacy for future Simmers to enjoy. Five years later I am still here and thankfully survived to see the day toddlers come out, which was one of the happiest days I got to experience since joining forums. I met some pretty amazing people along the way even though last year was tough mentally losing three Simmers I met along my journey. I just take it one day at a time and even with my sleepless nights what helped me get through it was Sims at times, books, and old movies. I haven't been able to run since my accident but being able to run with my Self-Sim at least made me want to cry happy tears especially when first person view came out with the Sims 4. I still can dance and do some sports, just have had to learn to do things differently than before. I joined a gym with a pool and able to run in the water at least.
There was a story called the Spoon Theory which I think has been taken down that helped explain what having an invisible disability is like, but I found this article that summarizes the story in a visual:
https://countingmyspoons.com/2016/08/5811/
I actually had to get this patch for my service dog Buttercup because I was tired of people bugging me when I use her for daily tasks. I made her in the Sims 4 too.
It's taken me 7 years to muster up the courage/stabilise my health conditions enough to book a flight to Korea in August and then COVID19 happened. The Sims is literally the only thing that can actually distract me at the moment.
EDIT: I just also want to say that this is a lovely idea for a thread and that I really appreciate having a space like this right now
COVID-19's got me all like, "Yay! Sims time!" Though so the aforementioned doesn't apply currently lol
Instagram: eternidad.sim.stories.
You're welcome!
Also thank you for your kind words and support - I think the thing that's crushing me the most is the fact that 2020 was meant to be the year I got myself out of my 7 year isolation (I barely leave the house anyway - my whole existence revolves around self-isolation haha) and now it's like nope you're not leaving yet. Get back in your bed and stay there for at least 3 months!
EDIT: Always a pleasure to meet a fellow spoonie and someone else who understands what having an invisible disability is like who also loves the Sims!
The saying 'Never judge a book by its cover' springs to mind.
I was diagnosed with ADHD and Dyspraxia during my early years in primary school, back when I lived in Cheshire. I believe that during those years i found out about The Sims. My first full foray into the franchise was TS3, which I got roughly in 2012. My next foray into the franchise was TS4. I got the Digital Deluxe in 2017. Ever since, I've been having fun!
Peace, Love & Joy to you all.
You have quite the inspiring story yourself too @SERVERFRA. Raising a daughter alone isn't easy. That is a good goal to have each day. It reminds me of my goal has been to make at least one other person laugh or smile each day which oddly brings me joy. Sorry you have had to deal with health issues since childhood too, but I am glad that the Sims has helped you through it.
@ChuChuExpress Thanks again for making this thread and glad the Sims has helped you as well. My brother has ADD so I can understand it can be hard sometimes just doing daily tasks. He is now a father of a boy and a girl and has a beautiful wife I am proud to call my sister. It was 2002 when I first got the Sims Deluxe game and I've been corrupted ever since. It has been wonderful to see new Simmers join the Sims community as the years progress.
You're welcome! It also seems that mental health issues and special needs run in my family. My dad has ADHD, as well as high blood pressure (that's from his line of work) and my sister has Dyspraxia.
On a lighter note, my daughter became a Simmer the same time as me. She's the one that accidently discovered Sims 3 Diesel Stuff in EB GameStop. When we brought the new game home & tried to install it, we learned that we needed a base game, so we when back to the store & brought the base game to install then the Sims 3 Diesel Stuff. We so didn't know much back then. Lol
At present we are still simmers. We play our own Sims 4 games & I help my daughter by giving her Sims 4 gift cards so that she can get the Gamepacks & Stuff games in Origin. You never stop being a Mother to your child even when they've grown & moved out.
PS: I sometimes even get my future Son-in-Law the Steam gift cards to help take his mind off his pain. I always refer my Daughter & him as my kids.
It is incredibly frustrating that some people seem to think you have to 'look disabled' to use certain facilities. My sister has autism and severe learning/ communication difficulties, she is very active and requires 2 carers to access the community. I have lost count of the number of times people have questioned the need to use a disabled parking space for her (it is for safety reasons) or given her carers or my parents funny looks because they are parking there and (to the public) are seemingly getting out with a 'normal' looking young lady.
My parents once made a badge for her as a child to communicate to the public why she behaves the way she does (she is mostly non-verbal but makes a lot of loud noises) because at one point they got fed up of getting odd looks from the public.
I hope, in future, society will become more understanding as more awareness of invisible disabilities grows.
It is nice to see that the Sims has helped so many people through difficult times. I find it is very good for cheering you up when you're feeling down.
Magicomedies:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/1006334/magicomedies#latest
When I play a Sims game, I finally have the control. I make the rules. I control the world. I determine failure or success without needing the support or approval of other people who are older, or richer, or more popular than I am. I'm the queen. I. Am. God. I do what I want, and no one can get in my way. No one can hurt me. No one can abandon me. No one can hold me back. No one can judge me as defective or weak or weird or unworthy. It's my world and these sims are living in it, and I can make their lives as happy or hard as I like. I can give them a million bucks in starting money, build them an awesome mansion, and let them just hang out all day being a bunch of bums. I can make them start out with no money, living out of a tent or a shack, and slowly build themselves up with hard work and determination to live a comfortable and happy life. There, my ASD doesn't matter. My age doesn't matter. My gender doesn't matter. Only my will matters. It's a relaxing outlet in a life where I'm constantly being blocked and dragged around and pushed around and beaten down and ignored and rejected by this horrendous society that I've been forced to have to try and live in, a society that gives me a headache every day with how stupid and cruel and ignorant and selfish and childish and shallow and cliquish and broken it all is...especially now. Everything I've known about American society for my whole life has been laid so bare by this coronavirus crisis that even the rosiest tinted glasses in the world can't filter out all the filth and scum now...and yet the people in charge are still acting like infantile fools instead of FINALLY BEING GROWN-UPS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR MISERABLE LITTLE LIVES!!!
...But, when I play, I can forget about the foolishness. I can forget about the cruelty. I can forget about the childishness and the cliquishness and the greed and the selfishness and the shallowness and the apathy and all of that other stuff that makes my brain melt with rage and despair. I can relax, take control, and actually control the world instead of just futilely struggling to make things for myself and others better and happier while a gang of arsonists sprays everything with gasoline and flamethrowers.
...And, breathe...
Today, I listened to Heart UK, both the Heart Wiltshire and Heart London stations. It seems that music and The Sims is helping me to cope. As is ACNH.