Suggestion of ways to recovery from illness using Second Life

[ijustttesting]

I happened to know people who are recovering from illness.

I would like to invite people to brainstorm and suggestion of places and activities which can:

1. Use Second Life to learn about real life situration.
2. Get out of isolation and lonelyness.
3. Expend the horizons.
4. Improve their quality of life.
5. Develop skills, providing rehabiliation and recovery opportunities.

sincerely,

Ijustttesting

[REAPER Firehawk]

I know one place to come out of isolation; Join the Bronies. Lots of people there willing to help ya out there.

[Thinkerer Melville]

 

Look at this page:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Virtual_Ability

TKR

[Griffin Ceawlin]

Fearless Nation PTSD Virtual Retreat

Unfortunately, I only recently heard about this program because it's facing imminent closure due to lack of funding.

[Void Singer]

6. be able to do something without having to think about being sick. whether it's just hanging out, listening to music with friends, creating something, doesn't matter... distraction is highly underrated.

[Vladi Hazelnut]

first of all what is the illness? If its depression or social anxiety or something along those lines I would actually suggest not using second life. Its addictive and enabling to those sorts of problems. I suffer from both depression and anxiety and I can tell you joinging second life was not the best decision I made. But now I can't quit lol.

But that being said its my theory that second life is mostly made up of people with problems. It seems everyone I meet has some sort of issue, but shock huh. Most normal well adjusted people are out doing other more productive things that sitting infront of a computer playing a pretend life.

However there are lots of support groups in sl, just search for them and you should find some. I would say one of the better things sl has done is it raises a ton of money for breast cancer. My girlfriend belongs to the breast cancer society in sl. We had a function one day where we held a race and all the proceeds went to breast cancer. And there were other teams doing the same thing, just other activities on the same day. And there was a website where you could track the amounts of each team. Our sim alone raised just under 1,000 dollars. Not lindens real US dollars. All the teams together raised close to 30K!!! again not lindens 30,000 us dollars. That is just fantastic and I would have never imgagined figures that high.

[Void Singer]

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Vladi Hazelnut wrote:

first of all what is the illness? [...]

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all of them, excepting perhaps computer addiction (although it's vaguely possible someone could use SL to turn that around into a productive obsession).

a person can become addicted to anything if they have a strong enough desire to avoid their problems.... even tic-tac-toe. what matter is how a thing is used. if it's a healthy escape, no problems. if it's used to avoid real responsibilities or needs, that's a problem.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

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Vladi Hazelnut wrote:

first of all what is the illness? If its depression or social anxiety or something along those lines I would actually suggest not using second life. Its addictive and enabling to those sorts of problems. I suffer from both depression and anxiety and I can tell you joinging second life was not the best decision I made. But now I can't quit lol.

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I think there is nothing wrong with the decision to live in a virtual world if you can't properly function in the real one. I'm in a similar situation, and at some point one has to accept the fact that one just isn't cut out for the real world. It's a bit like participating in the paralympics or special olympics. Better than getting no medal at all, imho

 

PS: What psychiatrists call social anxiety, I call phenotypic variation. There have always been people who chose to live and work as reclusive hermits. Think of lighthouse keepers, or solitary shepherds, farmers or trappers. People with OCD became monks or sadhus who engaged in repetitive rituals all day long, such as religious washings (Martin Luther, a Catholic monk and the founder of protestantism, suffered from OCD). Schizophrenics were regarded as shamans who heard the voices of gods or ancestral spirits. (In fact, the study of shamans in extant hunter-gatherer societies has shown that almost all of them exhibit schizotypal personality traits). It is only in our modern industrialized world that such traits are considered to be neurological disorders, which makes it possible to legally sell psychoactive drugs to children and lock unproductive individuals away for the sake of eugenics.

[Charolotte Caxton]

Being an active participant of Second Life allows a person to explore interests and activities that may otherwise be unattainable for a variety of reasons among them being physical, mental, financial or psychological.

It has been said by some that being a gifted violinist is a terrible waste of time and talent.

The point being that if it becomes something that one can love and pour their time and energy into, it is a benefit and not a waste.

Being in Second Life does not always equate to not having anything better to do in Real Life. It is a fact that Second Life is a choice and often times the best choice available for how one chooses to spend their time.

As has been noted, anything can become an addiction. Often times the healing of addiction is successful not only when the substance/activity is rendered obsolete, but when the underlying causes of the addiction are addressed instead of just covered up. Many times an addictive personality needs a replacement addiction that is not as physically damaging. A virtual world experience offers perfect opportunities for compulsive obsession.

Passion is a love and devotion to something. Obsession is being intensely involved in something. 

I would say that the possibilities for enhancing lives is vast. 

The flip side would be that just as the internet has put knowledge and information and instant communication at our fingertips, it has also spawned and enhanced numerous crimes and unseeming acts of behaviors that are of no benefit and actual detriment of many.

In that way, the virtual reality of Second Life mirrors the reality of Reality. 

To solve the problems of Second Life, we would have to solve the problems of Life.

[Mayalily]

What Void said. 

[Conifer Dada]

Obviously SL is highly unlikely to be a direct cure for a physical illness.  

But what it can do is provide an absorbing diversion, assuming you are well enough to use it..  I'm thinking that particularly SL could help people with depression, although that depends on the cause.  However, if depression has led to social isolation in the real world, SL won't help overcome that, just a diversion, something that makes you a bit happier while you're logged in.  Supposing someone is unhappy for most of their waking hours because they suffer from depression.  If they find that their mood lifts when they're in SL for a couple of hours, that has to be a good thing.

[leyna1488303852]

(sorry this is so long!)

I don't have suggestions of ways to use SL for recovering from an illness, but I wanted to share a few things from my own experience.

The first thing I have to share is that there was a period of time (about two years) when I was unable to leave my house due to illness.  I remember that one of the most difficult things for me was that I didn't need to *be* anywhere.  No one was waiting for me to show up anywhere, no one missed me when I wasn't there, wherever "there" was.

I almost felt invisible for a period of time.  Had SL been around then, it would have been amazing to be able to have the experience of connection with community and responsibilities.  It would have helped me in my need to be able to show up and be counted on, to be a part of something that mattered.  

The second thing is that my partner is disabled with a yet undetermined neuromuscular illness and is unable to drive or leave his house very often. We initially joined SL as a way to bridge the miles between us when we're not able to be together.  We had no idea what we were getting into, didn't know that he'd be able to do things like row his boat, take me dancing, go exploring, build, and even open a store to share the RL images that show his perspective of the world he sees around him.

I can't speak for him, but I can share a few of the things I've observed:

He's had things to look forward to that he otherwise wouldn't have, like some of the parties we've attended, shopping for just the right outfits, picking me up for our dates, and taking snapshots to remember wonderful evenings by. 

It's been a place for him to express his creativity in any way he wishes. He's been building and terraforming and has had a blast doing it.  Having a creative outlet is so important and is always a positive thing in my opinion. 

He's had some of the loveliest interactions with people that he'd otherwise not have had, experienced the exchange of heart felt kindness of the real people shining through their avatars. 

He's been able to use some of the skills he enjoyed using in his RL work before he became disabled, and been able to be part of a bigger picture, one that really does make a difference in people's lives. 

 

So I'd say that SL definitely can help in a lot of ways.  Having things to look forward to, connecting with people and having an opportunity to take on responsibility  or help others if one so desires are all things that can improve peoples quality of life and expand their horizons.