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Serious Games Can Support Psychotherapy of Children and Adolescents

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HCI and Usability for Medicine and Health Care (USAB 2007)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 4799))

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Abstract

Computers and video games are a normal part of life for millions of children. However, due to the association between intensive gaming and aggressive behavior, school failure, and overweight, video games have gained negative publicity. While most reports centre upon their potential negative consequences, little research has been carried out with regard to the innovative potentials of video games. ‘Treasure Hunt’, the first psychotherapeutic computer game based on principles of behavior modification, makes use of children’s fascination for video games in order to support psychotherapy. This interactive adventure game for eight to twelve year old children is not meant to substitute the therapist, but to offer attractive electronic homework assignments and rehearse basic psycho-educational concepts that have been learnt during therapy sessions. While psychotherapeutic computer games may prove to be a useful tool in the treatment of children and adolescents, unrealistic expectations with regard to such games should be discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Zürich University, Switzerland

    Veronika Brezinka

  2. Computer Aided Architectural Design, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

    Ludger Hovestadt

Authors
  1. Veronika Brezinka
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  2. Ludger Hovestadt
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Andreas Holzinger

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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Brezinka, V., Hovestadt, L. (2007). Serious Games Can Support Psychotherapy of Children and Adolescents. In: Holzinger, A. (eds) HCI and Usability for Medicine and Health Care. USAB 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4799. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76805-0_30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76805-0_30

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-76804-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-76805-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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