A study at the University of Bonn used video games in the treatment of people with depression – with amazing results.
What was the study about? A study at the University of Bonn aimed to investigate the effect of 3D video games on subjects with severe depression (Major Depressive Disorder). The 46 participants were divided into 3 groups and subjected to one of 3 treatment types over 6 weeks:
- One group played the Nintendo classic Super Mario Odyssey on the Switch
- One group worked with the computer program ‘Cogpack’, which is supposed to improve brain performance
- One group received the ‘standard treatment’ in the form of psychotherapy and/or medication
The aim of the study was to examine the impact of video games on the mood, motivation, and memory of those affected.
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Video games can have a positive effect on well-being
What were the results of the study? In fact, the researchers found a significant reduction in depressive symptoms only in the gaming group. Thus, Super Mario outperformed both the cognitive training program and the classical therapy in this regard.
However, the working memory showed an improvement in only one test, while the CogPack
group improved in all visually-spatial memory functions.
What is particularly interesting is that the participants in the gaming group had a significantly higher motivation to continue their ‘treatment’. The researchers caution to interpret the results of the study carefully and state that further investigations with larger samples are necessary.
Nevertheless, the results show that video games can positively affect well-being and have the potential to be used as a complementary treatment at some point in the future.
If you are interested in the scientific aspect, you can find the complete study on Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Not only at the University of Bonn have scientists recognized the potential of video games in research. One scientist wanted to explore the relationship between certain mental disorders and complex problem-solving skills and used an 8-year-old city-builder on Steam for this purpose.
