Video games represent a choice leisure activity and hobby for many kids, but games may have a lot more going for them than just their entertainment value.
Studies have revealed that video games offer psychological benefits for kids, among them the promotion of problem-solving and creativity skills and even the enhancement of positive emotions in child cancer patients.
While previous research shows that video games can induce positive feelings, new research shows that they can help alleviate negative feelings as well.
Researchers at the Auckland University in New Zealand developed a video game called SPARX to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy to adolescents in an easily accessible and enjoyable way.
SPARX (an acronym that stands for Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-factor thoughts) is an interactive fantasy game where players create an avatar and undertake challenges to restore balance in a world dominated by "gloomy negative automatic thoughts" (GNATS).
Players move through seven levels in the fantasy world, where they kill off GNATS and learn skills such as assertiveness, listening, and muscle relaxation.
The study included 187 adolescents between the ages of 12-19 with mild to moderate depression.
It split participants into two groups: one group played SPARX while the other group underwent face-to-face counseling by trained counselors and clinical psychologists.
Researchers found that both standard therapy and SPARX reduced levels of anxiety and depression by about one-third.
Participating in the SPARX game resulted in a significant decrease in depression, anxiety, and hopelessness and an improvement in quality of life.
SPARX was actually more effective in helping kids recover from depression: about 44% of those who played SPARX recovered completely from depression, compared to 26% of those who underwent usual treatment.
When researchers questioned the adolescents on satisfaction, 95% of SPARX users said they believed it would appeal to other teens, and 81% said they would recommend it to friends, though satisfaction was just as high among those who received traditional treatment.
According to researchers, the fact that SPARX was just as effective as face-to-face therapy in reducing depression is impressive mainly because SPARX is a true self-help program: adolescents had contact with a clinician only at recruitment and received input from professionals only once (after a month).
The researchers concluded that SPARX "is at least as good as treatment as usual, would be cheaper and easier to disseminate, and could be used to increase access to therapy.
" Despite the prevalence of depression (up to 25% of young people experience a depressive disorder by the age of 19), less than one-fifth of depressed teens receive treatment.
Given the gap between the number of teens who experience depression and the number who actually receive treatment, this study is promising because it offers a possible new way to help depressed teens.
A lot of teens play video games (97%, according to the Pew Research Center ), so helping them deal with emotional problems through a medium in which they're already familiar sounds like it has the potential to be effective and accessible.
Gaming might be the newest way to build coping skills and resilience.
You can read the full study here.