The multimedia game SPARX helps fight depression in New Zealand teens. This form of therapy in mild and moderate disease is as effective as psychological consultation.
SPARX advises young people to fight depression using a psychological approach known as the cognitive-behavioral method.
The game is exciting for those discouraged by consultation and good advice for teenagers. This is a fantasy fictional story in which the player adopts an avatar of a warrior whose task is to blow up negative thoughts with the use of fireballs to prevent the world from being flooded by a sea of pessimism and despair.
Sally Marry, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who leads the project at the University of Auckland, said the unconventional approach has proven very popular with teenagers who can solve their problems while maintaining their own pace of therapy and privacy.
We can solve mental health problems without being deadly boring, ‘said Sally Marry. Therapy does not have to be depressing in itself. Our goal is to make it fun to bring back the joy of life.
The multimedia game has seven levels, each of which lasts approximately 35-40 minutes. It is addressed to children aged 13-17, as this group is most often attacked by depression. He introduces a guide to play, helping you to go through the levels that teach you how to manage anger, resolve conflicts, or train you in relaxing breathing exercises. As you play the game, the world becomes brighter and less dangerous with each level.
The main challenge of the game is to make it attractive to young people, so that they feel that they are having a great time and are not aware of what they have learned, said Maru Nihoniho, director of Media Interactive, the game’s developer. We had to apply techniques such as an interactive 3D environment, puzzles and tasks similar to those used in commercial games to maintain a high level of entertainment. Our young consultants wanted shooting, blood and killing, so by compromising the avatar shoots down the lighting that turns negative thoughts into positive ones, he added.
75-80 percent of depressed youth do not receive any help at all, which leads to problems such as low self-esteem, difficulties in communicating with others, and thus isolation, and poor grades in schools. Young people often feel sad and completely do not realize what it is. We show them that thanks to this therapy, they don’t have to put up with it – says Nihoniho.
Clinical trials, published in the British Medical Journal earlier this year, showed that the game is as effective in treating mild to moderate depression as meeting a psychologist. In people with more severe depression and mental illnesses, it can help overcome the barrier and increase the desire to contact a specialist.
The problem of youth depression is international, common and often untreated, Dr. Marry noted. The game, which has already won an award from the United Nations World Summit, is of interest to the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and non-English speaking countries that wish to translate it. The details of the issue are not yet known, but the psychiatrist would like her to be available in schools, youth centers and depression doctors.
New Zealand has one of the highest suicide rates among young people in the developed world. (PAP)
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