Finding therapy through too much Crash

Since the lecture yesterday and during tutorial today, I have been thinking a lot about my own involvement and experiences with video games, and all the good things about gaming and game culture. I thought this would be a nice place to start for my first blog post...

Video games have been a part of my life from a young age when I saved up my pocket money to buy a Game Boy colour, and became obsessed with Super Mario and Pokemon games. I now enjoy playing on more advanced consoles like the 3DS and Xbox if I get a chance, but am still rather stuck in the dark ages of gaming… My console ownership involves my old Game Boy Colour, an inherited and dying PS1 and a broken PSP. When invited to LAN parties, and internet café Battlefield tournaments I am left behind, constantly having to respawn, and needing advice on what the controls are.

Over the break, a friend (who shares my love of older and highly pixelated games) and myself have taken on the task of getting 105% on Crash Bandicoot: Warped, one of our favourite childhood games. We have been taking the task very seriously, getting every gem, relic and crystal. Throughout this intensive gaming period we have each found that the immersion into the game and the relaxed environment in which we have been playing has caused us to open up a lot to each other, saying things we might not usually say. This is interesting to think about, as it is almost like the gaming environment is acting as a form of therapy, we are distracted by the game, and feel freer to talk. It also seems like a safer and certainly less confronting environment than say, having a heart-to-heart in a cafe. After a couple of quick searches on google and the library catalogue I have found that there is a small amount of material from counsellors and psychoanalysts on the topic of video games being used as a therapeutic tool for children and teenagers.

Here is an excerpt from one particular reading I found online:

“Children may find it easier to relate to a therapist who is ready and willing to play in their usual way (Freud, 1908/1960). Intense situations during video game play (due to powerful audiovisual effects, emotional nature of play, and identification with featured characters) may bring the therapist and patient closer to one another as they share similar affective states, thereby facilitating the emergence of a therapeutic relationship. Video game play allows a therapist to go where a child is. It is common for an adolescent to remain silent during therapy, and this may indicate resistance. Here, video games may offer a medium of interaction that can continue through the verbal blackout to reassure the patient that the therapist is still there and in touch with possible changes in the meanings of the silences. This is very similar to the way therapists and children use board games such as checkers (Loomis, 1957).”

http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/gpr-14-2-141.pdf