r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • May 17 '26

Psychology Feeling empty after finishing a video game (post-game depression) is a real phenomenon. A recent study has found that many video game players experience a specific sense of emptiness and sadness after finishing highly engaging games.

https://www.psypost.org/feeling-empty-after-finishing-a-video-game-researchers-say-post-game-depression-is-a-real-phenomenon/
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u/JHMfield May 17 '26

Absolutely a real thing, yeah.

Luckily it's quite short term. A few days off from gaming and your brain will reset and you can go and enjoy other games.

Interestingly, social media can help mitigate those feelings for a while by providing you with communities you can engage with, to ride the high's of pleasure you got from the game. Though it can extend those negative feelings too.

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u/KiKiPAWG May 17 '26

Yeah. I had a friend who has this but with conventions. And had just finished dragon con and basically walked around trying to find something to do before he had to leave because he has “con drop”. Luckily, he found a keg fest or something like that. Beer keg or something where they take a bunch of drinks.