Gaming in Check
Gaming in Check
A workbook for the GAS-7: reflect on your gaming pattern over the last few months, spot your triggers, set up screen-free times on purpose, and prepare a first conversation -- over four weeks.
€4.00 · 10 pages, A4, PDF
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The GAS-7 uses seven criteria -- including preoccupation, loss of control, withdrawal, and neglect of other activities -- to check whether your gaming over the last six months shows signs of a problematic pattern. It's a screening tool, not a diagnosis. This workbook turns that into four weeks of concrete work: not watching raw screen time, but the pattern behind it -- spotting triggers, honestly naming the areas gaming has crowded out, setting up screen-free times on purpose, and finding other ways to self-soothe. It doesn't replace a professional evaluation by an addiction counseling service, therapist, or doctor, but it can help you prepare for it or support it alongside.
What's inside
- How to use this workbook -- what the GAS-7 measures, how to read the 4-of-7 threshold, and when professional help makes sense
- Baseline: place your GAS-7 result and name the criteria that fit you most
- Gaming log: for one week, track when and why you play, how the session ends, and how you feel afterward -- the pattern matters, not the raw screen time
- Spotting triggers: which situations or moods make gaming mainly a way to switch off or escape
- Naming neglected areas honestly: concrete consequences like lost sleep, missed commitments, or problems at school or work
- Setting up screen-free times and finding other ways to self-soothe
- What I want to talk about: preparing a conversation with someone you trust or a counseling service
- Plan the week and look back: set small steps, review the log, retake the GAS-7
- Notes and source
Free preview: Gaming log (page 4)
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Scientific basis
- Lemmens, J. S., Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2009). Development and validation of a game addiction scale for adolescents. Media Psychology, 12(1), 77-95. — Original development of the Game Addiction Scale (source of the 7 criteria used in the short form derived from the original 21-item scale).
- Khazaal, Y., Chatton, A., Rothen, S., Achab, S., Thorens, G., Zullino, D., & Gmel, G. (2016). Psychometric properties of the 7-item Game Addiction Scale among French and German speaking adults. BMC Psychiatry, 16, 132. — Published under CC BY 4.0, unrestricted use with attribution permitted. The criteria used in this workbook (salience, tolerance, mood modification, withdrawal, conflict, neglect) follow this validation study's item wording.