Playing video games helps people with depression feel slightly better

It was the University of California Davies who carried out research into how gaming can affect how much sufferers feel in control of their mental health issues.

They have assessed 160 student volunteers who said that they suffered from mild depression. Theses students were encouraged to play a specifically designed mental health video game, which sent reminders to them to play more often.

The messages and games targeted two kinds of depression – the first kind caused by a chemical imbalance or hereditary factors, and the second as a result of outside factors such as job problems or relationship breakdowns and each message sent out to the gamers ended with: "Just like a regular workout, much of the benefit of these tasks comes from using them without taking breaks and putting in your best effort".

The study found that in the majority of cases, playing the specifically designed game helped people feel they had some control over their depression and they found that portraying depression as a condition caused by external factors led gamers to play for longer periods of time. Researchers concluded that might mean that they felt like they had more control over their situation.

Although  the study wasn’t looking into whether gaming can actually reduce depression, it did find that it could help make people with depression feel slightly better during the time they played.

The study concluded, "Through the use of carefully designed persuasive message prompts… mental health video games can be perceived and used as a more viable and less attrition-ridden treatment option,"