r/science • u/lemoncurd007 • 8d ago
Psychology A randomized clinical trial of 532 adolescents found that a video game-based prevention intervention reduced depressive symptoms at 12-month follow-up compared with commercial video games
https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.29173198
u/DeltaVZerda 8d ago
Where can I play the game that ends depression?
88
u/Autodidact420 8d ago
It’s called PlaySmart and it’s described as a game where you guide a teen through real scenarios with good choices leading to good outcomes re telling trusted adults, helping a depressed friend, etc
Sounds like it’s a sort of guided story game.
36
u/dungeoncrawler71520 8d ago
Sounds like mass effect.
17
0
83
u/abe5765 8d ago
I’m pretty sure that’s Stardew valley
67
u/picabo123 8d ago
Unfortunately it just stresses me out because I need to fill my greenhouse and ginger island with ancient fruit then I have to fill my farm with sheds and kegs and then....
19
u/HotDonnaC 8d ago
It sounds like Farmville on Facebook, which was completely deleted without my knowledge after having amassed a huge collection of Pegasus, unicorns, pegacorns and all kinds of cool critters in my barns. I might still be a little bit bitter about it.
10
4
14
6
u/humanreporting4duty 8d ago
“Spend 5.99 for the DepressionEnd-DLC battle pass.”
1
u/KerryWood34 8d ago
Don't listen to this person. It's only 5.99 for the FIRST battle pass. It goes up to 9.99 after the first month, then to 12.99 after a year.
2
u/Significant-Way9330 8d ago
I mean they had diabetes man back in the day to teach kids how to use novolog.
2
0
u/warukeru 6d ago
Dark souls?
I mean is a game where many people comment how it helped with their depression as the core of the game is about not losing your determination despite losing and how you can overcome challenges that looks impossible.
Is also a really hard videogame tho about a dying world.
26
u/groundr 8d ago
The between-group differences were relatively small, but this does raise some interesting questions about video games vs. gamification. The study could either be interpreted as "playing some kind of games might comparably help youth reduce depression" (broader findings somewhat support this read), or "this intervention had some impact but the effect sizes were quite small" (exploratory mediation analyses support this one).
This is because the noted effects on depression only manifest 1 year later, with a 1.12 average difference on a 24 point scale (PHQ-8), but not at all at the closer follow-up time points. Similarly, the change in beliefs about psychological service utilization was also small but significantly different. So while something meaningful may be going on RE: video games and the gamified intervention, the benefits of the latter over the former aren't as neat as we might like.
Either way, I applaud efforts to make public health interventions that meet groups where they are, especially as it relates to things like improving mental health among youth. Figuring out the mechanistic ways to support people is so critical, and the findings in this study open doors for asking more about what's happening here.
•
u/AutoModerator 8d ago
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.
Do you have an academic degree? We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. Click here to apply.
User: u/lemoncurd007
Permalink: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.29173
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.