Video games as a complementary therapy tool in mental disorders

Background: Previous review studies have suggested that computer games can serve as an alternative or additional form of treatment in several areas (schizophrenia, asthma or motor rehabilitation). Although several naturalistic studies have been conducted showing the usefulness of serious video games...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fernández Aranda, Fernando|||0000-0002-2968-9898, Jiménez Murcia, Susana|||0000-0002-3596-8033, Santamaría, Juan José|||0000-0001-9957-9363, Gunnard, Katarina|||0000-0002-8002-0997, Soto, Antonio, Kalapanidas, Elias, Bults, Richard G. A., Davarakis, Costas|||0000-0002-4212-9684, Ganchev, Todor|||0000-0003-0384-4033, Granero, Roser|||0000-0001-6308-3198, Konstantas, Dimitri|||0000-0002-2664-9348, Kostoulas, Theodoros|||0000-0003-2201-6938, Lam, Tony, Lucas, Mikkel, Masuet Augmantell, Cristina|||0000-0001-7000-7345, Moussa, Maher H., Nielsen, Jeppe, Penelo Werner, Eva|||0000-0001-6796-7660
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:319658
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/319658
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3109/09638237.2012.664302
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Mental disorders
New technologies
Therapy
Video games
Descripción
Sumario:Background: Previous review studies have suggested that computer games can serve as an alternative or additional form of treatment in several areas (schizophrenia, asthma or motor rehabilitation). Although several naturalistic studies have been conducted showing the usefulness of serious video games in the treatment of some abnormal behaviours, there is a lack of serious games specially designed for treating mental disorders. Aim: The purpose of our project was to develop and evaluate a serious video game designed to remedi- ate attitudinal, behavioural and emotional processes of patients with impulse-related disorders. Method and results: The video game was created and developed within the European research project PlayMancer. It aims to prove potential capacity to change underlying attitudinal, behavioural and emotional processes of patients with impulse-related disorders. New interaction modes were provided by newly developed components, such as emotion recognition from speech, face and physiological reactions, while specific impulsive reactions were elicited. The video game uses biofeedback for helping patients to learn relaxation skills, acquire better self-control strategies and develop new emotional regulation strategies. In this article, we present a description of the video game used, ration- ale, user requirements, usability and preliminary data, in several mental disorders.