For some years now, people have begun to talk about videogame therapy and the possible applications of video games in the field of health preservation. Not only mental health, as we will see, going far beyond the psychological sphere of the human being and opening up scenarios that until a few decades ago were, let’s face it, unthinkable.
In Italy, the turning point came in 2019, when V.G.T., Video Game Therapy, took concrete and structured form thanks to Professor Francesco Bocci, a lecturer and psychotherapist who finally saw the opportunity to bring patients closer to a practice that could provide significant benefits through the video game medium.
Playing to feel better, then, the game that also becomes an educational-social tool with which to establish a new form of connection between psychotherapist and patient: if appropriately guided, the practice of video gaming can offer a great deal in terms of stimulation and strengthening psychological balance.
Many of the experimental therapies involve shared gameplay sessions between two or more patients, through which researchers study reactions not only at the mental level to what happens on the screen, but also and above all the stimuli within what is the emotional spectrum of the person playing video games.
Le immersive “modern” adventures are those that most of all transport patients into structured and believable worlds, through which the emotional response is studied that will serve as the basis for subsequent therapy sessions.
La trilogy of Life is Strange, to give a concrete example, has been the subject of study by various organizations and psychologists, who, making use of professionals from the video game industry and specialized educators, have launched very interesting, as well as innovative therapeutic gaming paths.
Interesting in this regard is an article I recently read (
link here) in which some video game experiences of various kinds are reported, from the gameplay session of
Detroit Become Human, a wonderful interactive adventure in which we will address the theme of identity and of the traumas with which to live in every sense, to the one in which
Little Nightmares is discussed, a story of ancestral fears, burdens weighing on the heart, and situations of heavy discomfort within society. The ramifications within us, both on a psychological level and a purely emotional one, are profound and interconnected.
When I was referring to the contribution that Game Therapy can make well beyond mental health as such, I meant exactly this: addressing and healing inner conflicts, suffering of various kinds, and unresolved issues, thanks to the immersive experience of the video game and exposure to the stimulus it provides. With these assumptions, the psychological techniques that can be adopted to work on the personal sphere open up a range of potentially limitless possibilities.
Terms such as active listening, catharsis and desensitization with respect to a traumatic event are recurring when talking about video game therapy; however, I was struck by the gentle and at the same time effective way in which the Storytelling technique embraces the patient: playing within a story, told by others, as protagonists makes us more spontaneous, free from rules, inhibitions and that sense of responsibility that we feel on our shoulders when we open up, or are forced to do so, speaking aloud about what has caused us and still causes us pain.
Anche Doctor Bocci also emphasizes it (
article link), when he states that “i
n a digital environment, which is in itself protected and regulated, the patient can relive past traumas and emotional experiences without getting stuck in them, but instead giving them an adaptive and creative meaning”.
The Video Game takes us by the hand and tells us what we have always wanted to hear, what we truly need: “Inside here, you can feel free.” And is the search for freedom, I wonder, not perhaps the first step toward finding ourselves again?
