Fearfighter: Video Game To Fight Fears

The video game industry, despite all of the opponents that it has made among politicians eager for a quick vote and moralists who get outraged at each little thing, grows fastest. Certainly, gamers around the world are part of this continued survival, but other sectors of culture are also reaping the advantages of advanced video game technologies. The military has used video games as training simulators, helping soldiers get accustomed to piloting the complicated military vehicles that they need to use in the battleground. The army has additionally used them as a stress relief device, each on the field so that as a possible supplementary treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Advances made in real time 3-D making has been put to use in training medical college students through the use of surgery simulation software. Now, the area of mental wellness may also greatly benefit from video game technology.

If a person has a phobia, it can be a debilitating problem. Claustrophobic people often have to resort to using stairs because the elevator is a restricted space and they are not able to stay in it for just about any length of time. People with anxiety when heights can often experience discomfort in severe levels in everything ranging from climbing upward stairs to looking out from the window of a plane in flight. Nicely, researchers in the UK have emerged efforts with online game developers to design a game title built for the purpose of helping someone overcome fears and fears by utilizing an interactive simulated environment. It isn't like the idea hasn't been done prior to, but the fairly recent implementation of gaming technology by the US armed forces to combat post-traumatic stress disorder is still experimental.

In fact, the British psychiatric game "Fearfighter" is also firmly within the experimental stages. In certain ways, it has not really passed the "proof of concept" stage yet. Still, patients in Britain are often put on long waiting lists with regard to sessions and, due to the nature of the problem, may be forced to wait around too long. The games allow for preliminary help, giving both the psychiatrist and the patient to adjust the level of realism in the game environment as needed. While it does not simulate conditions with total accuracy, it has been shown as providing a realistic enough simulation to have an appreciable effect on patients. However, the results are still in the short-term and studies need to be conducted on the long-term results, along with whether or not the treatment is effective without the aid of a professional.

British psychologists have acknowledged the potential uses of this, not only as a initial treatment, but also as a means of providing the communication tool for his or her patients. The games can be used to connect the individual to the medical professional, allowing for communication between the two even when one team is unable to physically see the other. The tool can also help people suffering from phobias deal with their problems in a safer, controllable environment, allowing them to gradually alter themselves to coping with the problem.

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