Lisa W. Goldstone, MS, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP
CPNP Program Committee
This session can be purchased in CPNP University.
The 2017 CPNP Annual Meeting concluded with Russ Pitts, President and Co-Founder of Take This, Inc., presenting on the topic “Level Up Life: How Video Games are Improving Health.” When people think about the typical “gamer,” the image most likely to come to mind is that of a male child playing an unhealthy, violent game. Mr. Pitts dispelled this notion by explaining that females comprise 44% of the population of 155 million “gamers” with the average age of a “gamer” being 35 years.1 He further described “gamers” as having varying backgrounds with many of them being highly educated individuals.
Research Supporting the Use of Video Games in Mental Health Treatment
Initial research into the question of whether video games can promote mental health is promising. Super Mario, a commercial video game, was studied to determine if positive brain changes occur with use of this game.2 Twenty-three young adults who played 30 minutes of more of Super Mario 64 on a daily basis for two months were compared to a control group of 25 adults who did not. Results from this study showed an association between playing the video game and increases in brain volume including gray matter in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and the cerebellum. PlayMancer, a game designed to address both attitudinal and emotional problems in patients with psychiatric disorders, has been preliminarily studied in Europe with patients demonstrating an improvement in coping abilities for stressful life situations following use of the game.3 Patients were also accepting of this modality of treatment.
Games Used in Patients with Psychiatric and Neurologic Disorders
Mr. Pitts shared clips of several other video games to demonstrate how they could potentially be used with patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. There are games designed for persons with depressive and anxiety disorders as well as for children whose parents have substance use disorders and/or have been abusive to them.4-6 One game, SuperBetter, was created after the developer suffered a traumatic brain injury which resulted in her feeling depressed and hopeless.7 In a randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers at The University of Pennsylvania, SuperBetter was shown to reduce both anxiety and depression in persons who played the game for at least 30 days. Another game described by Mr. Pitts uses a therapy beagle who sees other dogs in her private practice8 By using abstraction (i.e., dogs as the provider and as patients), the player is able to learn about therapy processes in a non-threatening manner. There are even tools for aspiring game makers, including pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, to use to develop games specific to patients with psychiatric and neurologic disorders.
Video games are a novel therapeutic intervention that can be used in the healthcare setting. Pharmacists are in a unique position to be in the forefront of game development that focuses specifically on medication-related issues.
Take Home Points
References