New Study SPARX Interest in Video Games for Mental Health

If your teenager spends all his time playing video games on his computer, you may be concerned for his mental wellness, but a bit of fantasy gaming could be just what the doctor ordered. This is according to a new study, published online in British Medical Journal, which has found that, for adolescents whose wellbeing has been affected by depression, specialised fantasy computer therapy is just as effective as face-to-face counselling with a clinician.

 

Created by researchers from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, the novel computerised cognitive behavioural therapy SPARX is based on an interactive 3D fantasy game containing seven modules. Your teenager completes the game over a period of four to seven weeks, during which time he or she is required to restore balance in a virtual world that has become overrun by GNATS (Gloomy Negative Automatic Thoughts), by undergoing a series of challenges.

 

For the study, the researchers undertook a randomised controlled trial with a three-month follow-up. The study participants – which was composed of 187 teenagers aged 12 to 19 years with mild to moderate depression in 24 primary healthcare sites across New Zealand – were split into two groups. The first group completed one-to-one counselling with a trained clinician, while the other played SPARX over a four to seven week period. The researchers then assessed the teens using several commonly used mental health and quality of life scales.

 

The results of the study revealed that the SPARX game was just as effective as standard treatment, as it reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety by at least a third. Of the 69 participants who completed at least four homework modules in the SPARX group, 44% or 31 teenagers completely recovered, whereas only 26% (19/83) of the group assigned to standard treatment did likewise. Both of the groups reported high satisfaction with their treatments, but in the SPARX groups 76 out of the 80 participants (95%) said that the programme would appeal to other teenagers and 81% (64) would recommend it to friends.

 

According to the study authors, SPARX is an ‘effective resource for help seeking adolescents with depression at primary healthcare sites. Use of the programme resulted in a clinically significant reduction in depression, anxiety, and hopelessness and an improvement in quality of life.’ They added that as your teenager can play SPARX at home, the computer game-based treatment could be cost effective, increase access to treatment, and serves as a potential choice for adolescents who are hesitant to seek conventional therapy.

Categories: depression, effective, healthcare sites, Mental Health, primary healthcare, Research, sparx, standard treatment, study, Video Games

Dance Your Blues Away: Zumba Instructor Free From Depression

Zumba is an extremely popular exercise today but for instructor Karen Bedford, it not just about the dance moves; it’s about mental health. For Karen, 49, exercise was the reason that she survived and beat decade-long battle with depression.

 

In 1998, Karen developed depression out of a series of mental health-damaging personal events. She broke up with her long-term partner, was made redundant from her job at a publishing house and was fighting to keep her family home in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. She was anti-depressants for a year, but still this was no permanent fix. ‘The antidepressants probably helped but I don’t think they were the right solution for me,’ she explains. ‘I questioned if it was worth taking them, especially because they made me feel unwell.’

 

While a new relationship and another job in publishing helped to stabilise her depression, mother-of-two Karen went on antidepressants again after her partner, Randy, died from pancreatic cancer in 2003. ‘I was terrified I’d be stuck on them for ever and I wanted to sort out the underlying problems,’ she notes. Then her life changed when her friend suggested an exercise class, and Karen picked the lively dance music-fueled Zumba. ‘I loved it – I felt better instantly after each lesson and it gave me a real high,’ she says. ‘Since Zumba became part of my life my mental state’s been more stable and I haven’t needed the pills. I get the odd down day, but because I’ve regained my confidence I face my problems much better now.’

 

In fact, Karen needs no convincing about how exercise benefits mental well-being. ‘I’d recommend it to anyone with depression and doctors should do too,’ she enthuses. ‘It’s definitely offered me a solution.’ However, not all wellness experts are so sure. For example, a study recently reported in the British Medical Journal found that depressed patients who exercised more as well as receiving antidepressants actually did no better than those who had just the standard treatment. According to lead researcher Professor John Campbell, from the University of Exeter Medical School, ‘The message isn’t that exercise won’t help depression but we couldn’t show it had an added effect beyond standard treatment. For sufferers, their world is black, so it’s not always an appropriate treatment to start with.’

Categories: antidepressants, case study, dance, depression, exercise, karen, mental, Mental Health, standard treatment, Zumba