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Mental Health Lists

These are games that are helpful for mental health. This includes games that have been helpful for specific mental health challenges, as well as games that help us understand the challenge faced by the people we love. Some of these are designed to be used as a source of games that offer wellbeing in different ways.
 

Video games are usually non-stop. They invite us onto a ride that takes us to all sorts of places. They invite us to continually engage and interact with the worlds they create. However, some games create space for us to pause the action, sit, and take in the environments they have created.

 
22/12/2021 / 2 years ago

Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. As much as resilience involves "bouncing back" from these difficult experiences, it can also involve profound personal growth.

 
07/05/2020 / 3 years ago

Jocelyn Brewer coined the phrase Digital Nutrition to introduce a way of thinking about technology that went beyond screen time worries, drug analogies and detoxes. Instead, she encourages us to think about the variety, context and patterns of digital consumption.

 
26/02/2021 / 3 years ago

There are times in life when something worrying is happening and the best course of action is to not think about it. Annoying, those are the times when your brain will let you think of nothing else. Having a good distraction on hand can really help.

 
08/08/2022 / 19 months ago

Fidget
Toys
Fidget spinners burst into the hands of children a number of years ago. While that initial trend subsided, the interest and enjoyment of tactile objects to fiddle with are very much with us.

 
22/06/2021 / 2 years ago

These games offer ways to consciously step outside the day's stresses and pressures to create space for self-care. This may be to distract yourself with calming unpressured tasks or to visit a world that is tranquil and relaxing or maybe just spend time reflecting on your emotions in a safe space.

 
07/12/2021 / 2 years ago

You can aid the happiness of your brain by taking on activities that generate key experiences and chemicals:
  • Dopamine for motivation, learning and pleasure.
  • Oxytocin for trust and building relationships.
  • Serotonin for significance and importance.
  • Endorphins for euphoria and elation.

 
25/10/2021 / 2 years ago

You can aid the happiness of your brain by taking on activities that generate key experiences and chemicals:
  • Dopamine for motivation, learning and pleasure.
  • Oxytocin for trust and building relationships.
  • Serotonin for significance and importance.
  • Endorphins for euphoria and elation.

 
25/10/2021 / 2 years ago

You can aid the happiness of your brain by taking on activities that generate key experiences and chemicals:
  • Dopamine for motivation, learning and pleasure.
  • Oxytocin for trust and building relationships.
  • Serotonin for significance and importance.
  • Endorphins for euphoria and elation.

 
25/10/2021 / 2 years ago

You can aid the happiness of your brain by taking on activities that generate key experiences and chemicals:
  • Dopamine for motivation, learning and pleasure.
  • Oxytocin for trust and building relationships.
  • Serotonin for significance and importance.
  • Endorphins for euphoria and elation.

 
25/10/2021 / 2 years ago

These games embed a sense of hope by playing them, sometimes through a hopeful story, sometimes through a hopeful interaction, and sometimes just an uplifting aesthetic to spend time in. These are games that leave you with an uplifted spirit, maybe not immediately (like Horizon Zero Dawn) but by the time you have finished them.

 
27/03/2020 / 3 years ago

With the final episode of Neighbours signalling the end of road for the soap opera many of us grew up with, you are likely missing the healing properties of a good cuppa. Whatever life threw at the residents of Ramsay Street, nothing was too traumatic not to be soothed with a good strong cup of tea.

 
17/08/2022 / 19 months ago

Video games where you adventure into a harsh setting, try your hardest to survive and slowly develop your abilities but then inevitably die are often called Rogue-likes. This is because one of the first games that offered this style of play was called Rogue.

 
05/07/2020 / 3 years ago

Games are often about destruction rather than creation and include acts of killing, felling and undoing. With news of the "Beloved Tree in England Felled in Act of Vandalism" as the New York Times put it, we may imagine that video games are (as is the instinct) in some way to blame.

 
02/10/2023 / 5 months ago

Games include interactions, narratives and characters dealing with all aspects of life (and death). This means that some care is necessary if players are sensitive to losing significant people. But also, games can provide a helpful space in which to process, consider and understand death and loss.

 
07/12/2021 / 2 years ago

In a culture that often assumes that the route to happiness is with another person, it can benefit us to acknowledge that being alone is not always a bad thing. We teamed up with Courtney Garcia’s Screen Therapy channel to curate a list of games that give us a chance to experience being alone in different ways.

 
11/02/2021 / 3 years ago

Video games are often thought to be about the quick hit or instant rush of dopamine gratification. In fact, many video games take a long time before they are enjoyable. It takes patience and investment of effort to start making an impact in the game world, and in many ways is actually hard, slow work.

 
06/06/2021 / 2 years ago

Video games are known for high-octane, adrenaline-fuelled entertainment, but there are many that address the player’s emotions as much as their dexterity. Often overlooked by younger or more competitive players, these experiences can provide a helpful variety in the diet of games your family enjoys.
The games selected below create emotionally rich spaces in which to explore scenarios with feelings rather than facts. In some games this is achieved with beautiful or soothing interactive visuals; others create charged relationships and settings that invite players to take a role in processing these emotions.

 
05/03/2020 / 4 years ago

While many games include characters to interact with, some are specifically designed to make relationships a central element. Whether this is during the rounds of a puzzle game amidst a zombie outbreak or as we race cars around a circuit, they can offer a unique way to think deeply about how we relate to each other and to the games people play.

 
08/03/2020 / 4 years ago

Winding
Down
Children love to play exuberant and exciting video games with their friends. While these offer a wide range of benefits, it can be good to transition to something less energetic as the day draws to a close.

 
05/03/2021 / 3 years ago

Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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