Video Games As Therapy

A blog about sharing views, news and articles involving the use of video games in a therapeutic form. Do you have a personal story, article, question or feedback you want to share? If so feel free send us a question to our inbox. Thank you for visiting.

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Our Digital Selves: My Avatar is me [full feature film]

“Our Digital Selves: My Avatar is me!” tells the story of 13 global citizens and their avatars as they transcend their various disabilities through artistic expression and making a home for themselves in the VR Metaverse.

The film follows researchers Tom Boellstorff and Donna Davis as they facilitate deep connections between real human beings in virtuality by giving away digital land to build anything the participants of this project can dream up.

As Boellstorff and Davis finish up their 3-year study made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation [entitled “Virtual Worlds, Disability and New Cultures of the Embodied Self”], the film provides a window into a world of seemingly unlimited possibilities for borderless human interaction, irrespective of physical location and or ability.

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PushingUpRoses: 10 Video Games I Play to Reduce Stress & Depression Symptoms

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Schizophrenia patients calmed by video game

All 12 patients in the study experienced nasty and threatening verbal hallucinations every day - a common symptom of schizophrenia.

To try to control their symptoms, they were asked to play a video game while in an MRI scanner, using their own mental strategies to move a computerised rocket - and in doing so they were able to turn down the volume on the external voices they heard as well.

Dr Natasza Orlov, from King's College London, said: "The patients know when the voices are about to start - they can feel it, so we want them to immediately put this aid into effect to lessen them, or stop the voices completely."

She said all the patients in the study, who each had four turns in the MRI scanner, found that their voices became less external and more internal, making them less stressful. They were also better able to cope with them.

Dr Orlov added: "Although the study sample size is small and we lacked a control group, these results are promising.

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How ‘Papo & Yo’ Shined a Light on Alcoholism and Mental Health

"Games can really help people," he says, "and can help people to heal." Yet he didn't expect the inundation of emails, letters and social media responses that followed his game's release, which is something that persists today.

Papo & Yo clearly struck a chord with people who were living with or who had lived in similar circumstances, then, and it is perhaps the preeminent example of a game that explores issues of alcoholism and addiction. Video game developers are not therapists, but games do wield a very unique power to help people, or at the very least set them on the path to seeking help.

"The difference with movies and video games is that movies do not resemble therapy at all," says Caballero. "Movies are linear stories that have you, the viewer, projecting yourself into. Games actually happen in real time, like therapy. You're projecting memories, but at the same exploring them, you're actually trying to see how the impact on you and it's not a linear model. Therapy is exploration, as is gameplay. I think that video game simulations are the perfect tool where you can actually go back and relive those memories—even if they are painful to you and find a way to cope with them.

[gamergentofficial-blog]

You know what sucks? Anxiety. You know what doesnt suck? Minecraft. We delve deep into the abilities of resource management and building games to fight anxiety!

Subscribe to Gamer G.E.N.T. on YouTube for more weekly content like this!

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Building empathy and self-healing: Game development as an awareness and healing tool

The only way I could face I have been dealing with depression for all this time was to make a game how I felt and publishing it. If I haven't had done Rainy Day or haven't pushed the publish button I probably would never acknowledge or accept that what I felt was indeed depression. I'm really grateful for that. I have since seeked professional support which have made everything much more bearable. It isn't like all my live mysteriously got sorted out, it feels more like now I feel apt to capable to deal with everything that have been happening and don't feel quite drained out like before. If making Rainy Day and having people playing it and sharing their stories have not saved my life quite surely improved its quality significantly.

So though there are ideas and processes in this text on how to build interactive narrative, I believe the main take away is to make games about how you feel. Well, remember when Neil Gaiman said that when you are an artist, you must do art? No matter what happens or how you feel, you should most definitely create something with it or about it. Rainy Day was that and, by doing it, I not only was able to feel better about myself during a difficult time and create an experience to help others understand how it feels. I also learned something about me I didn't know before. Something I had for a long time and I didn't even realised it since I just worked around it.  

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100 year old keeps sharp playing Nintendo DS

A sprightly centenarian has revealed the secret to staying sharp in old age - playing VIDEO GAMES. Instead of knitting or playing bingo Kathleen Kit Connell, known as Kit, spends two hours a day tapping away at her favourite console. And the grandmother-of-one, who still lives independently, said she has used the Nintendo DS Lite, so much she even wore out her first console and had to replace the computer. Kit, who according to the game has the mental age of 64, said: "It's absolutely super. I don't feel a day over 80.

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Video games could soon replace pills in treating some cognitive diseases

Furthest along is a game called "Project: EVO," which is currently at the last level of FDA approval as a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Akili, which is based in Boston, has also partnered with Pfizer to study how its games can detect evidence of Alzheimer's.

"Our goal here is not necessarily to boot out the pharmaceutical industry," said Adam Gazzaley, the founder and executive director of Neuroscape and an Akili board member. Rather, it's "to find new approaches that have better side effect profiles, that can be targeted in a more personal way, and then figure out how they can work with our current system," he said.

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How Playing Tetris Tames The Trauma Of A Car Crash

I'm referring to the idea that some combination of facing negative memories, but also being distracted from them, might help alleviate the vivid psychological scars of trauma. Clinicians and philosophers have tried countless ways of treating trauma and anxiety through the years — of finding, as Roman stoic philosopher Seneca called it, tranquillitas, or peace of mind. And many of them were, in all likelihood, bunk. But the science now shows that activities as simple as playing distracting video games or focusing on eye movements can help patients cope with a tragic experience.

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For many with social cognitive deficits and for some who struggle socially, reading facial expressions and knowing how to respond are daily challenges that interfere relationships and career goals.

The Brain Performance Institute at Center for BrainHealth offers a scientifically based social cognitive training program that uses a motivational, virtual-learning platform. Clinicians coach clients through real-life scenarios in a video game like environment, providing a safe place to practice social interactions in a virtual reality school, home, playground or coffee shop.

In the virtual world, face-tracking technology allows users to see their own and others’ facial emotions and reactions in real time. An expert clinician initiates nonscripted conversation that instills social brain strategies to help individuals reach personal goals.

This approach has been shown to build social-reasoning skills and increase confidence in real-world interactions. Individuals practice initiating conversations, navigating through social dilemmas, sharing thoughts and ideas, and developing social interactions.

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Your Next Psychologist May Prescribe 'The Legend of Zelda'

More people are playing video games than ever before, and therapists think certain games represent the future of mental health treatment.

The program, a collaborative effort from gaming technology experts and health researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas, simulates everyday experiences and social situations that are typically difficult for those with autism or anxiety disorders. And it's just one example in a growing trend in which video games are forms of therapy.

"The program starts to not feel like a game ... It feels real The program starts to not feel like a game ... It feels real," McCullar tells Mashable. "You know it is an alternate reality, but you feel the same emotions you would feel in the actual situation you are practicing."

That's the program's purpose: The immersive experience allows users to train their responses and handle certain scenarios to prepare for everyday life. In McCullar's case, her confusion transformed into emotional connection. The "social mistakes" she made in the game, she explains, made her rethink actual conversations and situations.

"No matter where individuals fall on the autism spectrum, those diagnosed often struggle to succeed in a world based on human interdependence," says Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth.

Chapman says the Center for BrainHealth began using a virtual reality platform more than seven years ago to see how leveraging technology in a safe, controlled environment could induce brain, cognitive, social and real-life changes.

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Tribemix Virtual Reality for Dementia Care

Hertfordshire based organisations, Tribemix and Quantum Care, have developed a series of virtual reality experiences that take people living with dementia in care out of the residential homes and away to a range of relaxing places. The immersive 3D scenes include the beach, a forest or even to watch dolphins playing around a coral reef. The project has already gained industry recognition as Tribemix and Quantum Care have been nominated for an Outstanding Innovation Award in Dementia Care at the National Dementia Care Awards. The project began when Tribemix Managing Director, Alex Smale, wanted to help his elderly neighbours to get outside after becoming isolated due to disability, “Our nearby residents, Stan and Dulcie, are 99 and 94 years old respectively. Over the past two years, we watched them go from active people walking into town to do their shopping, to losing their confidence and never leaving the house. When we began developing in VR for our commercial clients early this year, I thought ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could take Stan and Dulcie to the beach?’. So I created a virtual reality experience to do just that. This led to a conversation with a friend at Quantum Care. They were fortunately very forward thinking, and understood what we were trying to do. The results have been amazing and it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever been fortunate enough to do.”. Tribemix is now working with Quantum Care to roll the project out across their care home group. They are also working on developing the technology into training to allow carers and relatives to understand what it feels like to live with dementia. Website: http://www.tribemix.co.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tribemixsocial Twitter: https://twitter.com/tribemix Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tribemix_so... Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/tribemix

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Here is an interesting video about someone explaining how Dark Souls helped them cope with their suicidal depression.

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Study Finds VR Could Help Treat Depression

The study practiced the concept of embodiment. People were asked to comfort an upset child by saying anything they wanted to say. Then the roles were reversed. The patients became the child and heard their own words reflected back to them.

“People who struggle with anxiety and depression can be excessively self-critical when things go wrong in their lives,” explains study lead Professor Chris Brewin (UCL Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology). “In this study, by comforting the child and then hearing their own words back, patients are indirectly giving themselves compassion. The aim was to teach patients to be more compassionate towards themselves and less self-critical, and we saw promising results. A month after the study, several patients described how their experience had changed their response to real-life situations, in which they would previously have been self-critical.”

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How Games Like PokemonGo Could Be An Aid For Depressed People

The question is: “How does Pokémon Go help depressed individuals?” — The answer to this question lies within the idea behind the game. Depressed individuals, especially when suffering from social anxiety, tend to avoid going outside and partaking in any activities that involve other people. Pokémon Go creates a fun way for these individuals to get out of their homes and to help them communicate with others. The game also encourages individuals to walk around, which results in exercise.

NHS reports that exercise assists with depression by boosting a person’s mood. They also state that exercise should be something enjoyable. This will increase motivation when it comes to training. Pokémon Go assists with this by providing a fun way to walk around, play a game and still get some exercise in.

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How Video Games Can Teach Your Brain to Fight Depression

In the past few years, multiple fMRI studies, including a seminal one conducted at Stanford University, have peered into the brains of gamers. Their results show that when we play video games, two regions of the brain are continually hyperstimulated: the region most associated with motivation and goal-orientation (often referred to as “the reward pathways”) and the region most associated with learning and memory (the hippocampus). When you think about the experience of playing a video game, it makes perfect sense that these two regions of the brain would be hyperactivated. When we play games, we’re immediately and constantly focused on a goal. Whether it’s to solve a puzzle, find hidden objects, reach a finish line, or score more points than other players, the goal focuses our attention and creates a sense of motivation and determination. As we anticipate our potential success, our reward pathways light up.

Meanwhile, all video games—not just “educational” games—are designed to be learning experiences. Level 1 of any game is easy, because players are usually not very good at a new game the first time they try it. Immediately, the learning process kicks in, as they figure out the rules, test different strategies, and improve their skills. Crucially, as players succeed and advance in any video game, it gets harder, which requires players to continue to learn and improve for as long as they’re playing. This experience of consistently getting better at something is perhaps the signature pleasure of all video games. When there is nothing else to learn, and no way to keep improving, we usually stop playing. This is why adults don’t play tic-tac-toe! But as long as the game requires us to improve, our hippocampus will be engaged.

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How building this Minecraft village helped one soldier serving in Afghanistan

Often times we try to find some avenue of escape. Many of us rely on art, music, or video games to get us through the tough times of our lives. That’s exactly what one Minecraft player did while serving in Afghanistan. 

This village is called Autumnville and Reddit user udlose created it “to finally have something pretty to look at.” It’s a place that has a rich history which involved a great war that once ravaged the land. That war which happened long ago now only a memory of the past. Among the serene wheat fields, regal architecture, and vibrantly green foliage, lies a remnant of the war. A remnant in the form of a “statue built in honor of warriors who perished...” 

Like some of us who create art as a form of healing, Autumnville was created by a soldier who wanted a place of solace:

“Working on this town, I couldn't help but weave a whole story line around the location. It's a Soldier's dream; a place that was once a great stronghold centuries ago, but now has only known peace for as long as anyone can remember. All the battlefields are now crop fields and the fortress in the west, "The Bastion," is a site of ruins that now stand sentinel over pumpkins and grain.”