When it comes to treating injured workers, there are many types of psychological therapy, and one of the latest developments is the gamification of therapy. This approach uses video games as therapeutic tools to help injured workers recover from conditions such as traumatic brain injuries, depression and PTSD. Sure, we’ve all heard that “video games rot your brain,” but what if some of them were designed to do the opposite?

Gamification is a New Frontier

While this concept is still in its infancy, there are examples where video games have helped injured workers recover from or improve their mental health condition. Here are some ways the gamification of therapy may one day be useful:

• PTSD treatment: A recent study showed that people who played 12 minutes of Tetris after viewing a movie containing disturbing images had fewer “intrusive memories” about the movie over the next seven days than those who didn’t play Tetris. This means that there is potential with gamification of therapy to help injured workers who’ve suffered a catastrophic injury mentally recover.
• Cognitive disorders: Researchers and game developers are building video games to help relieve symptoms of cognitive disorders like depression and side effects of traumatic brain injury. By exercising the brain through various multitasking or training games, some injured workers have shown improvement in evaluative tasks. Gamification lets participants explore a virtual world to help improve their condition in the real one.

There are skeptics who doubt the potential of this therapeutic technique, especially since this concept is still relatively new and untested. The “brain training” industry, for example, has received criticism mainly due to its commercialization. However, many scientists believe that the gamification of therapy is worth investigating further for any benefits to the injured person.

At Paradigm Outcomes, we believe it’s important to treat the whole person, including the biological, psychological and social aspects of the injury, and we create comprehensive care plans for injured workers. Staying on top of cutting edge concepts such as the gamification of therapy may help us better serve injured workers in the future.