Serious Video Games as Psychosocial Interventions for Psychosis

Psychosocial interventions for people with psychosis, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, are an important and effective therapy to prevent relapses and assist with normal day-to-day functioning. However, there is a significant lack of provision of these therapies for this group, due largely to a lack of resources. Digital interventions offer promise in terms of increasing access to psychosocial interventions without the need for a large increase in resources. However, it can be challenging to ensure that people engage with therapies via digital means appropriately. This paper identifies existing examples of serious videogames for psychosis and highlights a number of challenges in developing future examples. Our future research will focus on investigating whether the development of serious videogames that embed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy may provide effective, engaging and accessible ways to sustain and improve mental health.