Download Free Computers And Games For Mental Health And Well Being Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Computers And Games For Mental Health And Well Being and write the review.

Recent years have seen important developments in the computer and game industry, including the emergence of the concept of serious games. It is hypothesized that tools such as games, virtual reality, or applications for smartphones may foster learning, enhance motivation, promote behavioral change, support psychotherapy, favor empowerment, and improve some cognitive functions. Computers and games may create supports for training or help people with cognitive, emotional, or behavioral change. Games take various formats, from board games to informatics to games with interactive rules of play. Similarly, computer tools may vary widely in format, from self-help or assisted computerized training to virtual reality or applications for smartphones. Some tools that may be helpful for mental health were specifically designed for that goal, whereas others were not. Gamification of computer-related products and games with a numeric format tend to reduce the gap between games and computers tools and increase the conceptual synergy in such fields. Games and computer design share an opportunity for creativity and innovation to help create, specifically design, and assess preventive or therapeutic tools. Computers and games share a design conception that allows innovative approaches to overcome barriers of the real world by creating their own rules. Yet, despite the potential interest in such tools to improve treatment of mental disorders and to help prevent them, the field remains understudied and information is under-disseminated in clinical practice. Some studies have shown, however, that there is potential interest and acceptability of tools that support various vehicles, rationales, objectives, and formats. These tools include traditional games (e.g., chess games), popular electronic games, board games, computer-based interventions specifically designed for psychotherapy or cognitive training, virtual reality, apps for smartphones, and so forth. Computers and games may offer a true opportunity to develop, assess, and disseminate new prevention and treatment tools for mental health and well-being. Currently, there is a strong need for state-of-the-art information to answer questions such as the following: Why develop such tools for mental health and well-being? What are the potential additions to traditional treatments? What are the best strategies or formats to improve the possible impact of these tools? Are such tools useful as a first treatment step? What is the potential of a hybrid model of care that combines traditional approaches with games and/or computers as tools? What games and applications have already been designed and studied? What is the evidence from previous studies? How can such tools be successfully designed for mental health and well-being? What is rewarding or attractive for patients in using such treatments? What are the worldwide developments in the field? Are some protocols under development? What are the barriers and challenges related to such developments? How can these tools be assessed, and how can the way that they work, and for whom, be measured? Are the potential benefits of such products specific, or can these additions be attributed to nonspecific factors? What are the users’ views on such tools? What are the possible links between such tools and social networks? Is there a gap between evidence-based results and market development? Are there any quality challenges? What future developments and studies are needed in the field?
This book examines how video game mechanics and narratives can teach players skills associated with increased psychological well-being. It integrates research from psychology, education, ludology, media studies, and communication science to demonstrate how game play can teach skills that have long been associated with increased happiness and prolonged life satisfaction, including flexible thinking, openness to experience, self-care, a growth mindset, solution-focused thinking, mindfulness, persistence, self-discovery and resilience. The chapters in this volume are written by leading voices in the field of game studies, including researchers from academia, the video gaming industry, and mental health practitioners paving the way in the field of “geek therapy.” This book will advance our understanding of the potential of video games to increase our psychological well-being by helping to mitigate depression, anxiety, and stress and foster persistence, self-care, and resilience.
A case for building a digital environment that can make us happier and healthier, not just more productive, and a theoretical framework for doing so.
With the internet, smartphones, and video games easily available to increasing portions of society, researchers are becoming concerned with the potential side effects and consequences of their prevalence in people’s daily lives. Many individuals are losing control of their internet use, using it and other devices excessively to the point that they negatively affect their wellbeing as these individuals withdraw from social life and use their devices to escape from the pressure of the real world. As such, it is imperative to seek new methods and strategies for identifying and treating individuals with digital addictions. Multifaceted Approach to Digital Addiction and Its Treatment is an essential research publication that explores the definition and different types of digital addiction, including internet addiction, smartphone addiction, and online gaming addition, and examines overall treatment approaches while covering sample cases by practitioners working with digital addiction. This book highlights topics such as neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychodynamics. It is ideal for psychologists, therapists, psychiatrists, counselors, health professionals, students, educators, researchers, and practitioners.
What impact can video games have on us as players? How does psychology influence video game creation? Why do some games become cultural phenomena? The Psychology of Video Games introduces the curious reader to the relationship between psychology and video games from the perspective of both game makers and players. Assuming no specialist knowledge, this concise, approachable guide is a starter book for anyone intrigued by what makes video games engaging and what is their psychological impact on gamers. It digests the research exploring the benefits gaming can have on players in relation to education and healthcare, considers the concerns over potential negative impacts such as pathological gaming, and concludes with some ethics considerations. With gaming being one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, The Psychology of Video Games shows the importance of understanding the human brain and its mental processes to foster ethical and inclusive video games.
This anthology examines the various facets of video game music. Contributors from the fields of science and practice document its historical development, discuss the music’s composition techniques, interactivity and function as well as attending to its performative aspects.
"In Glow Kids, Dr. Nicholas Kardaras will examine how technology-- more specifically, age-inappropriate screen tech, with all of its glowing ubiquity-- has profoundly affected the brains of an entire generation. Brain imaging research is showing that stimulating glowing screens are as dopaminergic (dopamine activating) to the brain's pleasure center as sex. And a growing mountain of clinical research correlates screen tech with disorders like ADHD, addiction, anxiety, depression, increased aggression, and even psychosis. Most shocking of all, recent brain imaging studies conclusively show that excessive screen exposure can neurologically damage a young person's developing brain in the same way that cocaine addiction can"--
Given the migration to more technologically driven services and resources in today’s world, as well as the range of digital innovations and research that have taken shape throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to consider the role that such advancements have played in supporting mental health initiatives. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health service providers utilized technology and online environments more than ever before to care for people’s mental health and emotional needs, which has forced us to raise questions like how COVID-19 has impacted mental health support and services and how technology has helped people with their mental health through this ongoing crisis, along with outlooks for the future. Digital Innovations for Mental Health Support explores a range of current developments and topics surrounding the application of technology in mental health services including the need to examine the availability and forms of technologies to support mental health, how technology is received by people and the providers of services utilizing technology, how online platforms are increasingly being used for support and how efficacious these are, as well as how they are monitored and the issues that arise from their use. This publication provides an outlet with chapters focusing on empirical studies across a variety disciplines that utilize technologies and online platforms to support mental health and emotional well-being, including psychology, counseling, medicine, education, and psychiatry. Covering topics such as counseling online and computer games to support mental health, it is ideal for researchers, academics, healthcare professionals, and students.
Interventions and Policies to Enhance Wellbeing Wellbeing: A Complete Reference Guide is the first multivolume, interdisciplinary exploration of the topic of wellbeing. The notion of wellbeing has grown in importance and prominence across the globe in recent years and this reference work provides an in-depth examination of the characteristics that enable individuals and organizations to thrive and flourish. Under the direction of noted academic Cary Cooper, and edited by a distinguished group of senior scholars from a variety of disciplines, this project looks at wellbeing from multiple perspectives, including children and families; the environment; the workplace; later life; economics; and interventions and public policy. Spanning the social sciences and encompassing the latest research, this is an essential reference for scholars, students, professionals, and policy makers who want to enhance and promote human wellbeing. Interventions and Policies to Enhance Wellbeing looks at the most successful existing strategies to promote wellbeing and mental health. It examines the latest research in the science of wellbeing and discusses the practical implications for improved learning, creativity, productivity, relationships, and health. The first two sections cover interventions for individuals across the lifespan, as well as those for organizations and communities. The final section looks specifically at policy initiatives and approaches, with a focus on the integration of new technology and the role of the media. In this multidisciplinary volume, a cadre of global scholars considers a wealth of new research and outlines the potential impact on future policy and the wellbeing of society at large. Online edition available on Wiley Online Library at www.referencewellbeing.com