Video games can take a lot of bad
press especially in an age where they are becoming ever more popular among
young people. It is easy to see why many people are concerned with video games.
They can be ‘addictive’ for many people and the violent and gory nature of some
games may de-sensitize younger players, perhaps even make them more aggressive,
violent teens and adults. As a long time gamer this has been a subject that is
typically on my mind and perhaps on the minds of many fellow gamers. How can I show
the greatness of video games to people who don’t play? Are the games I play
doing harm to me beyond the minor frustration of losing? Are video games good
or bad? As interesting as this debate is for many, this isn’t going to be about
whether or not video games are good; rather this is going to talk about how some
clever people have made video games help people in need.
An
article recently looked at several studies that were published in the past few
years that looked at how video games being used to combat certain disorders and
conditions such as depression, anxiety, and even stroke recovery. The studies
begin to show greater success for patients when the video game is paired with
normal intervention as opposed to only receiving normal intervention. One of
the things about these games is their challenge level. If the game was too easy
it would fail to engage the patient. On the other hand, if it was too difficult
the patient would only feel frustration and wouldn’t wish to bother with playing.
A degree of tuning is needed when figuring out where to place the difficulty. Video
games were even shown to be effective in dealing with pain felt during certain
painful treatments. The distraction of gaming was able to preoccupy the patient
from feeling some of the pain of treatment.
The
games used in these studies weren’t your typical video games. They were made by
researchers and designed to help patients with specific problems. The games
this study discusses are meant to assist and improve the effectiveness of the
normal treatment for mental disorders. No one is suggesting that Call of Duty
is going to be used to combat mental disorders (at least not to my knowledge),
but the idea of video games being used to help people, in a way which hasn’t been
used before, is holding merit. As people learn more and more about depression,
anxiety, and the like many more ways to combat these sometimes complicated
disorders are going to come out of the woodwork. Video games are a big way to
easily engage people in interventions to combat many disorders. It’s easier to
engage someone in a game when compared to a regular intervention especially
with their popularity among many younger people today. Engagement in mental
health can be a very serious issue especially with the many social stigmas and
negative views held towards mental disorders. Mental Health can be a very
serious issue for many people and causes a great deal of suffering for those
whom don’t receive treatment. Video games being used as interventions may be a
way to have people less hesitant to seek treatment of conditions that may even
be fatal in the worst case scenarios. Having interventions which more actively engage
patients in treatment may prove to combat the stigmas and perhaps even the
stress that can occur when going though treatments. In a few years, hospitals
may just have an arcade on one of their floors and I for one hope that’s its
open to the public some days.
Pater, P., Shattell, M., &
Kagan, P. (2015). Video games as nursing interventions. Issues
in Mental Health Nursing, 36(2), 156-160. doi:10.3109/01612840.2014.978961
Unnamed Image. http://addictionblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/why-do-people-play-video-games-2.jpg
Leo Bigras
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