Can serious video games help treat mental illness?
By Stephanie Barcan
Bachelor of Arts Student in (Honours) Psychology, McGill University, Canada | September 2023
Reviewed by Alexandre Lemyre, Ph.D.
Many setbacks complicate the pathway to care of young adults struggling with their mental health, especially during their first encounter with mental illness. In fact, less than 20% of these individuals use mental health services. A variety of reasons underlie this phenomenon, such as inadequate knowledge about services or stigmatizing attitudes about mental illness. Young adulthood is a crucial time for first episodes of mental illness, a period also corresponding with a special interest in the digital world. In a similar vein, 70-80% of young adults have used online sources when seeking help for- and information about their mental health difficulties, which is partly explained by a preference for the anonymity of the digital world.
Recent research has brought to light new evidence for the value of serious video games in the prevention and treatment of youth mental illness. Serious video games are created for a purpose other than entertainment, ranging from education to aiding in the treatment of mental illness. A recent systematic review synthetized the results of 49 studies investigating the use of 32 serious video games. The review pointed to the usefulness of serious video games for several purposes, from prevention in healthy youth to a complement to treatment for inpatients afflicted by severe mental illness.
A standout serious video game in the systematic review is SPARX (Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-factor thoughts), which was developed for youth as a means of preventing or treating symptoms of depression through the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. SPARX has been studied in individuals without depressive symptoms, as well as in individuals burdened by severe depressive symptoms. This intervention has also been studied cross-culturally and across diverse populations: in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, the Māori culture, and in the LGB population. This serious video game has shown promise in reducing the risk of depression, increasing knowledge about depression, and alleviating depressive symptoms. Special advantages of this game are the involvement of youth in its development, as well as its cultural sensitivity.
Nevertheless, one element often ignored by serious video game research is the potential risks associated with this new treatment avenue. Importantly, these could put youth at risk for gaming disorder, which calls for more research to be conducted in this area.
The content of this article was last updated on September 4, 2023
