Video games: A promising tool for anxiety and depression
Video games: A promising tool for anxiety and depression
Electronic games can help treat mental health conditions, but studies that would enable their development in a scientific environment and address possible addiction concerns are still lacking
Ah yes, I'm going to need that prescription for a 4090 and a ryzen7 7800x3d ASAP doc.
People have certainly used the escapism of video games as a form of self-medication for quite a long time now, so that makes a lot of sense that they could have a more clinical application for depression and anxiety. I hope this can become some sort of medical regimen. Imagine developing games that are not only fun, but are designed by psychologists to treat depression and anxiety.
I don't think it will replace medication, but it could certainly be an excellent complimentary treatment.
Imagine developing games that are not only fun, but are designed by psychologists to treat depression and anxiety.
It’s called the original Peggie!
Also, game developers are already doing that subconsciously and consciously as artists. Scientists may be able to explain why certain game elements effect people in certain ways but the idea that the science and medical industries can build games that help with anxiety and depression more than game developers with similar objectives is I think a common misunderstanding.
Scientists might be able to show that certain types of music powerfully impact people emotionally, but that doesn’t mean that scientists are able to take that information and make music that maximally emotionally impacts people.
We need artists to do that, and they already are with video games the problem is the industry treats it’s workers like trash.
The original Peggle is extraordinarily good at just making you feel good and calming you down. Then it had its spine ripped out in a Mortal Kombat finishing move by EA when they bought Popcap.
I'm gonna just leave this link to the official speedrun.com asset page that may or may not have a freely available Android APK of the original Peggle Deluxe that works on modern devices.
Superliminal has entered the chat.
I don't know if it actually had any medical staff involved, but it certainly has the feel of a therapy session wrapped up in a portal style puzzle game.
Personally, I've found immersive roleplay in video games to be incredibly therapeutic. As well as creating some distance from personal trauma and being able to kind of exist in a space outside of yourself, it creates opportunities to have experiences that you could never (and potentially should never) have in real life.
It's an opportunity to experience a kind of emotional catharsis in a safe environment where others are on board with playing out intense feelings. It can be a space where you can push your own comfort zone and stretch your confidence and capabilities.
I've managed to work through stuff that it would have taken me forever to unpack if I didn't get to repeat patterns in roleplay and really see how they play out in a way that was harder in my own life.
I've gotten so much better at establishing boundaries and seeing when people are trying to push at them or ignore them, and I know how to handle that now without feeling powerless. I played a few villains and anti-heroes, and one of them picked up this habit of getting right up in people's faces and saying hello; I'm nowhere near as brazen, but the practice made it much much easier to quickly develop a rapport with someone. Sometimes going to the laundromat feels like doing crowd work, which is great for someone with more than a few signs of thankfully currently mild agoraphobia. There are times when I do run into panic or anxiety when I've gotten myself out of it by sort of invoking the strength of one of those characters, because they're not afraid of a damned thing and they're me.
Anyway, video games are great but roleplay in the right game is absolutely next level. It's like remembering dozens of incarnations or something. It's wild and we don't really talk about how wild it is because the outside world seems to view it as childish and embarrassing, which is a major loss for them.
“The goal is to make the town progress by improving the resilience of its inhabitants,”
Sounds a bit like Stardew Valley?
Rimworld comes to mind as well, pretty much any colony management or "life sim" style game.
Applies equally to Frostpunk.. hmm..
Frostpunk isn't really good for my anxiety ^^
Timers are really bad for anxiety.
kids since the 70's : we been knew
Oh shit I gotta get an atari emulator
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
Video games: A promising tool for inducing anxiety and depression
Title makes it sound like a tool for giving anxiety and depression 😂.
That's just Dark Souls
Dark Souls is a great metaphor for depression. You go hollow when you give up. It's by persevering and overcoming obstacles that we find not only joy but meaning.
People who think dark souls is hard or tilting never played online games
Must have an HMO