My anecdata to the contrary. I feel like I've spent about 6-8 hours of my day on average, playing videogames for the past >20 years (I know, healthy, right?), and even during gameplay I still think of all the worst embarrassing moments at school and the shit one of my parents put me through, and the mistakes I've made at work... No doubt games have a suppressive effect pretty often, but whatever my mental process is, those memories always end up floating right back to the surface.
I think I'd add 2 suggestions (not a scientist, but I think they're worth considering):
1) it matters whether your mind is fully engaged in the game, or you have some room to bring in these shitty memories (for example, I played quite a few idle games, or MMOs that involved a lot of waiting) and 2) if you still find yourself reliving this shit during gameplay, maybe you're better off seeking other escapes (*let's not get destructive though, ie cocaine/heroin/meth), or doing productive things (sublimation in psychology) and slowly tackling this problem yourself using gradual accomplishments, building your confidence, breaking down events one piece at a time, etc.
I once saw something quite wise, which is the difference between a self soothing and self numbing. Self soothing is an activity you can do to handle a stressor you have at the moment and then you can move on from. But if you have to continually perform the behavior and never actually move on, you’re just numbing and putting off the processing part of pain/trauma.
I have that same issue with playing the piano. I think the problem is that your mind necessarily needs to flail around in the creative process in order to progress unless you're playing the simplest piece on the piano or Tetris on the computer. As such, it becomes increasingly likely over time that your creativity will stumble into something you didn't want to relive and then everything comes grinding to a halt.
I'd imagine that the most brainless casual games would avoid this sort of thing.
As a child playing the piano became a very weird experience (in hindsight). I'd need to practice until a piece became ingrained in my memory, and the only way I could play a piece would be to not actually think about it, and think about something else. As soon as I thought about what I was playing, I'd forget how to play the song. I wouldn't even know where I was, and could only pick up again either at the beginning or major points in the song. Weird.
I think I'd add 2 suggestions (not a scientist, but I think they're worth considering): 1) it matters whether your mind is fully engaged in the game, or you have some room to bring in these shitty memories (for example, I played quite a few idle games, or MMOs that involved a lot of waiting) and 2) if you still find yourself reliving this shit during gameplay, maybe you're better off seeking other escapes (*let's not get destructive though, ie cocaine/heroin/meth), or doing productive things (sublimation in psychology) and slowly tackling this problem yourself using gradual accomplishments, building your confidence, breaking down events one piece at a time, etc.