Psychotherapy through video games: is it effective?

Treating psychological illnesses through video games? future or present?

The video game industry is a sector in constant development with almost infinite possibilities for the future.. While in the beginning video games consisted of simple codes that executed very simple commands, today the level of recreation of reality is impressive and, nevertheless, continues to evolve by leaps and bounds.

If we add to this factor the increasingly massive commercialization and development of Virtual Reality products, we have a really interesting cocktail to begin to produce videogames dedicated exclusively to a therapeutic practice or, at least, to use the or, at least, to use the existing means to perform some types of therapy under the supervision of a professional duly trained in the field.

The therapeutic potential of video games

In a previous article we talked about the educational use that could have a genre of video games, with great projection, called sandbox. This genre in particular has great qualities to be used, also, as a tool to carry out therapies of different types, such as cognitive rehabilitation therapies.

The key element of this genre of videogames is the freedom of action within a world that, in general, simulates the real world. This element sees its action enhanced if we also add social game functionalities that, by the mere fact of fostering social relationships, is already in itself a therapeutic element, as we saw in a previous article in which we analyzed the therapeutic possibilities of Pokémon Go.

The power of virtual worlds in video games

The human mind is capable of amazing feats, and among all of them, the ability to establish emotional and intellectual connections with virtual worlds opens the possibility of performing a myriad of therapeutic practices that would not be possible if the video game industry were not at the point where it is.

The capacity for empathy that we possess as humans allows us to enter the virtual worlds offered by video games at a very high level, especially if we add the new Virtual Reality techniques that greatly enhance the immersion of the player in the video game, making the feeling of being inside it surprising. This opens a new avenue of possibilities for psychotherapy, allowing the user to enter a world in which we set the desired parameters for their experience to be enriching and therapeutic in certain contexts.

As an example of this, more and more experiments are being carried out on this subject, and the results in most of the studies show a great potential of video games in the therapy methodology. the results of most of the studies show a great potential of video games in the therapy methodology..

Some examples of video games with therapeutic potential

A good example of this type of studies is the one carried out by Llorens et al. (2015), in which they conducted a group therapy based on video games in individuals suffering from some type of traumatic brain injury. One hour per week for six months, this group performed a type of therapy designed by the authors, and the results showed that it was a very effective and motivating experience, as they self-awareness, social skills and behaviors were substantially improved.The results showed that it was a very effective and motivating experience, as they substantially improved their self-awareness, social skills and behaviors, taking into account that these were patients with traumatic brain injuries.

Another interesting study is the one carried out by Fernandez-Aranda et al. (2015) in which video games were tested as a tool for cognitive-behavioral therapy in patients with bulimia nervosa. This study showed how cognitive-behavioral therapy, together with the so-called serious games, could be of great help in the emotional dysregulation of patients. Using both, they observed that patients with bulimia nervosa suffered less dropouts and greater remission of symptoms, both partial and total, compared to the control group that only performed cognitive-behavioral therapy without the support of the video game.

On the other hand, studies such as those by Krzywinska (2015), Younbo et al. (2015), Servais (2015) or Smethhurst (2015), show us that video games can be used by therapists to enhance patients' insight and get deeper information about their person, especially in video games survival horror, first person shooters y role playing gamesas they deal with topics that in many cases are taboo, such as funerals, death and even trauma. In a therapeutic context, the immersion of the patient in these virtual worlds where these topics are dealt with can provide valuable information that could otherwise be much more difficult to obtain.

Finally, a study was recently published by Sevick et al. (2016) in which they performed a type of upper extremity movement therapy in patients with cerebral palsy, using video games and the Microsoft Kinect motion sensor. In this study observed that the levels of motivation in the performance of the exercises were considerably higher when they made use of this platform that integrates video games and movement. when they made use of this platform that integrates video games and movement, thus obtaining a higher performance and the possibility of transferring the intervention to the patients' homes, due to the high performance compared to the exercises performed in the clinical center or laboratory.

Concluding

As we can see, the results of these studies show the great usefulness that video games can have in psychotherapy and counseling, thus increasing the range of tools that the therapist can use, since, like the empty chair technique or the exposure technique, they offer new possibilities that should not be overlooked, offer new possibilities that should not be overlooked in spite of the existing skepticism towards this new paradigm.. All these studies discover a new world in the application of video games for therapies and treatments of all kinds, as long as the use is supervised by professionals trained in the field.

Emphasizing the importance in the early stages of life development, video games are a tool with great expectations for the future, especially if we take into account the speed at which the video game industry is evolving and the new platforms that are being developed in parallel, such as Virtual Reality or motion sensors, which open even more a range of possibilities, which is already very interesting and that should be taken into account much more given its characteristics.

Bibliographical references:

• Fernandez-Aranda, F., Jimenez-Murcia, S., Santamaría, J.J., Giner-Bartolomé, C., Mestre-Bach,G., Granero, R., etal. (2015). The use of videogames as complementary therapeutic tool for cognitive behavioral therapy in bulimia nervosa patients. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Netw. 18, pp. 744 - 751.

• Krzywinska, T. (2015). Gaming horror’s horror: representation, regulation, and affect in survival horror videogames. J. Vis. Cult. 14, pp. 293 - 297.

• Llorens, R., Noé, E., Ferri, J., and Alcañiz, M. (2015). Videogame-based group therapy to improve self-awareness and social skills after traumatic brain injury. J. Neuroengineering Rehabil. 12, pp. 1 - 8.

• Servais, O. (2015). Funerals in the ‘World of Warcraft’s: religion, polemic, and styles of play in a videogame universe. Soc. Compass 62, pp. 362 - 378.

• Sevick, M., Eklund, E., Mensch, A., Foreman, M., Standeven, J., & Engsberg, J. (2016). Using Free Internet Videogames in Upper Extremity Motor Training for Children with Cerebral Palsy. Behavioral Sciences, 6(2), 10.

• Smethhurst, T. (2015). Playing dead in videogames: traumain limbo. J. Pop. Cult. 48, pp. 817 - 835.

• Younbo, J., Hyun Jee, O., Sng, J., Joung Huem, K., and Detenber, B. H.(2015). Revisiting gender preference for a first-person shooter videogame: effects of non-verbal sensitivity and gender on enjoyment. Interact. Comput. 27, pp. 697 - 705.