People find gaming an important part of their lives for many reasons, including entertainment, learning, and social connection. Gaming has many positive effects as it enhances cognitive performance, social skills, and learning abilities. Also, video games are considered therapeutic and are used to treat mental health conditions.
This is because video games can keep people engaged and immersed while teaching skills like problem-solving and decision-making. Games can reduce stress and anxiety thereby promoting critical thinking, solving complex problems, and strategizing. Around 24%of people globally resort to video games to enhance mental health and to feel less isolated.
Several games can help with mental health by identifying and regulating one’s emotions. Certain games are known to improve cognitive function and promote mindfulness. This article will discuss how games can be therapeutic and what games should be considered for mental health. So, keep reading to learn more.
Can Video Games Be Therapeutic?
Research suggests that video games can help with stress relief, combat depression, and regulate mood, making it therapeutic. Video games can actively engage people, boost happiness, and strengthen connections with others. It improves critical thinking and problem-solving skills by helping reduce stress in moderation.
Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, in particular, encourage teamwork and strategic thinking, fostering social interaction and mental stimulation. Also, it is a mood booster for depressed people as it keeps people engaged and feels connected to others.
Video games can be a perfect solution for people to work on self-esteem and it helps enhance life skills, too. Most people use video games to relax and take a break from everyday pressures. Video games are also known to enhance cognitive skills such as working memory, reaction time, and visual attention.
Mostly, video games are a medium of entertainment rather than to work on mental health. However, it’s important to recognize that video games should complement traditional therapy, not replace it.
Games to consider for mental health
Games can help with mental health by boosting cognitive function, distracting from negative thoughts, and helping people feel a sense of control. Several games can help, such as casual games, brain training games, story-based games, distraction games, stress relief games, and personal timeline activities. Some of the best video games for mental health include
1. Night in the Woods
Night in the Woods is a 2017 single-player video game that is considered best for mental health and mental health illnesses. This adventure game was developed by Infinite Fall and published by Finji. Protagonist Mae Borowski’s mental well-being leads the story, with every other character in the game introducing the players throughout a 10-hour run time to deal with their relatable issues.
This storyline of the game makes the title apt. The game celebrates small victories in life and supports the concept of getting through the day deserving a gold medal. Thus, Night in the Woods has helped plenty of people dig deeper into the true meaning behind the story as well as face up to their inner demons and issues in reality.
2. Florence
Florence is a video game with an interactive story that was developed by the Australian studio Mountains and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game allows players to explore and reflect on their emotions and experience a relatable story about love and relationships. This game provides a space for complex feelings like sadness, joy, and heartbreak, which can help increase self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
Also, Florence helps with mental health in many ways, including emotional resonance, visual storytelling, the potential for self-awareness, a safe space for exploration, and most importantly, no pressure to ‘win’.
3. Gris
Gris is a game about loss and acceptance and it can help players work through difficult emotions by exploring stages of grief and other challenging feelings. The game’s design, gameplay mechanics, and color palette are crafted to inspire empathy, promote healing, and help players discover their inner strength. It helps with mental health in many ways by exploring grief in stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Also, the game’s colors evoke emotions and the game’s mechanism helps players discover their inner strength. Gris moves at a slow, deliberate pace, reminding players that healing from loss takes time. Its immersive gameplay helps maintain focus and distracts from anxious thoughts.
4. No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is a game about exploration and survival in an infinite galaxy and this game potentially helps with mental health in many ways. This game provides a sense of open-ended exploration, a feeling of accomplishment through discovery, a calming and immersive environment, and a distraction from daily stresses.
This game can be a huge relief for those experiencing anxiety and depression as it provides a space for relaxation and to engage in creative, self-directed activities. The setting of the game is a vast and beautiful universe and offers an unending exploration, relaxing atmosphere, creative freedom, distraction, and escapism.
5. Journey
Journey is a video game where players get to control a cloaked figure traveling a vast desert landscape toward a mysterious mountain. The game supports mental health by offering a guided adventure that encourages focus and helps block out real-world distractions.
It provides players with a sense of community and positivity. The game helps with mental health with distraction that is not mentally exhausting, focus on the game, block out real-world distractions, and feel a sense of companionship. This game also helps players learn to grow and overcome symptoms of anxiety and depression.
6. Celeste
Celeste is a 2018 indie video game developed and published by Maddy Makes Games. It follows Madeline, a young woman struggling with anxiety and depression, as she embarks on a challenging journey to climb Celeste Mountain. The game helps with mental health using gameplay mechanics and narrative to represent the struggles of anxiety and depression metaphorically.
This allows players to experience the challenges of overcoming obstacles while learning to accept setbacks and survive through difficult situations. The core theme of climbing the mountain in the game symbolizes the process of working through mental challenges.
Failing and trying again is the key part of the journey and the game teaches players about resilience and self-compassion. The game also helps with mental health through relatable narrative, acceptance, self-acceptance, visual representation of anxiety, positive reinforcement through failure, and breathing mechanics.
Apart from the above-mentioned games, several other games help with mental health. Some of those games include Sea of Solitude, Portal 2, Flappy Bird, Animal Crossing, Cry of Fear, Stardew Valley, Minecraft, A Short Hike, and My Time at Portia.
Also Read: 10 Best Family Board Games For Fun-filled Game Nights
Conclusion
Many people consider video games therapeutic, helping with mental health conditions. They ease depression and anxiety, relieve stress, support social connection, boost problem-solving abilities, and offer life satisfaction. It is also a great medium to help people find personal meaning in their experiences and promote emotional experimentation. Also, video games can stimulate real-life scenarios, activate empathetic processes, and improve identity awareness.
Apart from enhancing mental health, video games can promote cognitive skills, social skills, learning, creativity, and spatial awareness. Some of the best video games for mental health include Night in the Woods, Florence, Gris, No Man’s Sky, Journey, Celeste, Sea of Solitude, Portal 2, Flappy Bird, Animal Crossing, Cry of Fear, Stardew Valley, and Minecraft.
These games allow players to explore and reflect on their emotions and experience relatable stories, which can help increase self-awareness and emotional intelligence. They also help players discover their inner strength, sense of community, and positivity. These games can be a great way to cope with real-life stress, anxiety, and depression.
