Sanity in times of anxiety: video games and the familicide of Elche

Society has been shocked again with the tremendous murder of a father, a mother and a brother at the hands of the eldest son. Doubly so, if we add the fact that this 15-year-old he spent 2 days playing Fortnite living with the corpses until he was discovered.

In his own words “I knew I wasn't going to be able to play once they discovered me”.

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What real information do we have on the case?

A priori, a family with no apparent problems, only a "not serious" academic decline (considering not repeating the year as not serious), playing Fortnite, the presence of a shotgun kept under lock and key in a cupboard whose key was accessible to minors, the reading of the book "The Age of Wrath", in which the protagonist, a adolescent, ends up killing his family, and also the possibility of being contemplated by the family to demand that his eldest son and executioner join work in the field.

Is this enough information to determine that video games are the main cause?

No. Is this information enough to diagnose video game addiction? It is enough to state with certainty that we have to wait for the psychological forensic report. The safest thing is that we see a mental clinical picture in the young person added to the use of video games.

How bold would I be if I thought I was raising a rabbit when I said that the media is endlessly searching for the clickbait and sensationalism as a way of subsisting in a society that may still be sensitive to same! Nonetheless, it is eye-catching and is the headline. Is it something that everyone would talk about even if no media had accentuated it? Probably yes. And in turn, it is our job as professionals in this sector to restructure the expectations and information given.

I embarrass myself by repeating once again that videogames alone can hardly be the only or main problem (beating the other causes by an absolute majority). Is there a correlation? Yes. They are a cause that, if poorly managed, can precipitate negative aspects? Yes.

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The causes are never so simple

How easy it is to kill the dog and not kill the rabies. Let's be skeptical and rigorous. How much follow-up is done on interventions based on absolutely denying the use of video games? How many results are published? How much "relapse" rate (very much in quotes) is there? I tell you. 0.

Intervening video games without intervening in the rest of the variables does not make sense. In fact, I don't think even the professionals who advocate even banning video games don't intervene in those other areas. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that many times the problematic use of video games, being the consequence of the problem and taking up a lot of time and physically and mentally exhausted, makes us need to stop its use so that all those underlying problems resurface and flourish.

But once its use has been effectively intervened, is it realistic to advocate abstinence for the rest of life, especially in a person who does not even have a Gaming Disorder? No, maybe you have to redirect its use in conjunction with the new lifestyle.

The media will continue to look for the most striking. We also initiate the conversations by the headline. We health professionals will continue to dedicate ourselves to repairing the impulsiveness inescapable media coverage and now, more than ever, each of us will believe what we want to believe, because the free buffet of information that we can choose at ease to satisfy our beliefs without the need to question them.

And in this case of Elche, I repeat, there is a lack of information, the forensic clinical report is missing. Even so, being courteous does not take away from being brave and by intuition I can say that Video games at the time didn't have a positive impact on this young man's life, but nonetheless, it doesn't sound like it's even remotely the main cause..

It has been possible for this poor young man to condense several critical life experiences at the same moment, added to a character, a personality, a family environment and other psycho-emotional problems and he saw no other solution to dissociate himself from his act than to play Fortnite.