UAE: Video games can help children cooperate during psychotherapy, experts say – News

Although it can be considered an aggressive game, it is actually different from an actual attack because “it has no intention or attempt to harm a living person”

Video games are much more than that. Video games can help children and teens cooperate more and even develop a passion for psychotherapy, according to a mental health expert.

Dr. Horacio Hojman, clinical professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University’s Alpert School of Medicine and faculty member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, addressed attendees at the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) Congress How Harness the power of video games with their young clients.

While it can be considered aggressive play, Dr. Hojman said, in fact, it differs from actual assault because “it has no intent or attempt to harm a living person”.

“The prevailing evidence for negative effects on aggression and video game addiction should only be reserved for children and adolescents who use video games excessively, which does not mean that they cannot be used as modern tools for developing psychotherapeutic relationships,” he said.

In a therapeutic setting, he says video games can be useful tools in a psychotherapist’s toolbox, from being used as icebreakers to being used to build rapport.

“Therapists can also spot the child’s problem-solving strategies. They’re also useful in releasing aggression and control, and can show the therapist the joy of victory and the frustration of failure,” he says.

Playing games can also foster a spirit of cooperation between the therapist and child.

“When a child starts playing video games during therapy, the therapist’s main concern should not be to suppress its use, but rather to try to understand whether the child is having an emotional experience, one that is genuinely enjoyable and meaningful,” he said .

According to Dr. Hojman, video games have many benefits for children. For example, according to Dr. Hojman, the joy of playing games is an important emotional benefit. “They also provide children with the opportunity to negotiate social rules and roles while confronting them in a digital world with feelings of danger, fear and anxiety, mastery and failure, power and powerlessness, which can be fearful but ultimately Safe,” he said.

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Cognitively, they can help them, for example, develop and fine-tune their problem-solving skills. “That’s because they need time to gather information, assess options, develop plans and consider changing strategies or objectives before taking further action,” he said.

Another benefit of video games is that they train players to gain incremental intelligence, Dr. Hojman said. “Video games are an ideal training ground for incremental intelligence because they provide players with specific and immediate feedback on what other specific players are doing,” he said.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Hojman urged participants to be mindful of the effects of video games on self-development, self-awareness, and unconscious processes during therapy.