Games in Mental Health: A Narrative Review of the Alleviation of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Using Commercial Video Games

Kowal M, Conroy E, Ramsbottom N, Smithies T, Toth A, Campbell M

Gaming Your Mental Health: a narrative review of the use of commercial video games to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety

JMIR Serious Games 2021; 9(2): e26575

Commentary

This study investigates the effectiveness of video games as a treatment for mental health.

Worldwide, depression and anxiety are considered to be among the most common mental health disorders, and they can be acute or chronic, and various symptoms are commonly expressed asymptomatically. And even though there are mental health problems, the gap and stigma towards their treatment is a problem all over the world. It stands to reason that the impact of mental health will increase the demand for accessible and cost-effective ways to prevent the occurrence of mental health disorders and make it easier to cope with them, even at a financial cost.

This is where commercial video games come into focus, which have been shown to provide cognitive benefits to those who play them regularly. These include attentional control, cognitive flexibility, and information processing.

In light of current research, it is concluded that commercial video games show great promise as an inexpensive, readily accessible, internationally available, effective, and non-stigmatizing resource in the absence of, or in addition to, mental health problems. The results of this study were compiled from a number of studies, so there are no details about the participants or other participants, but the results show the potential usefulness of commercial games as part of mental health treatment. There was no specific mention of the type or genre of commercial games, and the experiments were tailored to each symptom, but as a hint, it may be desirable to play many genres of games.