|
Post by Jshammaa on Jul 14, 2016 20:12:16 GMT -4
Pokemon is a classic when it comes to people from my generation. When I was a kid, I could only dream of catching my own Pokemon... I do think that for people of my generation, catching Pokemon brings a sense of happiness and a sense of belonging in a way that we could never feel before (unless you played the card game...). I do believe that there will be reports of car accidents and people getting hit by oncoming traffic because of Pokemon Go. A game similar to Pokemon Go called Ingress has been around for a long time and has huge player base. It has not attracted a lot of attention like Pokemon Go though and we haven't heard anything in terms of accidents because of it.
As for the psychological and mental health aspect of it, I do believe that it might help people to go outside more and maybe help them leave the house if they have disabling diseases such as OCD or specific phobias. Going outside and taking a walk is something that I think we take for granted. Some people cannot do that because of different fears. If catching Pokemon can help that individual step outside and take a walk, halting the phobia, I think it can have a positive effect and can be used as a tool for exposure therapy.
Overall, I can only speak for myself and how it has affected me. I downloaded the game and I think it has helped me escape the stressors of everyday life of a medical student and it has given me an "excuse" to go outside, take break and breath some fresh air.
GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL!!!
|
|
|
Post by Kyle Witt MS3 on Jul 14, 2016 22:58:00 GMT -4
Pokemon Go has been out for such a short time that I feel it is difficult to make a fair assessment as to whether it can help with mental health or not. The only real evidence that this article gives for or against the topic is purely anecdotal and subjective, both of which are logical fallacies that a scientific writing community cannot base their conclusions on. However, I will say that if someone with a mental illness feels that this game, or any game for that matter, is helping them with their illness then who are we to marginalize that improvement. This game is not dangerous, it is not violent, it doesn't ruin lives. It is simply a game, and if people just have a good time trying to catch the little creatures on their phones, why do we have to rain on their parade.
|
|
|
Post by naqitaalexander on Jul 15, 2016 23:00:59 GMT -4
While reading this article, it is important to dissect the exact intentional benefits the game developers are actually striving towards: (1) Increasing an individual's physical activity levels; and (2) allowing them to experience a form of the virtual world in reality which should theoretically improve an individual's mood or state of mind with these feelings of accomplishment. One could argue that these motivating factors behind the design and intended purpose of the game may give the player a false sense of confidence and reality. Which in turn would not only deteriorate the condition and progress of patients suffering from depression and anxiety disorders, but would also create an environment which endorses anti-social behaviour as the player does not technically need to communicate with anyone in real time.
This being said, I think its important to realise that conditions pertaining to mental health are generally multi-factorial. As a matter of fact, the multiple criteria needed to be met in any DSM-5 diagnosis proves this. Reasonably speaking, a large multitude of illnesses dealt with in mental health, including depression and anxiety disorders, derive from so much more than just one factor. Hence, attempting to improve an individual's "social confidence", as a factor alone, will not be entirely beneficial to patients with mental illness. Moreover, the game in itself has the potential to expose the player to social environments and scenarios that he/she may not be adequately equipped to deal with yet as a result of their condition which will not be beneficial to the progress of any individual suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.
|
|
|
Post by Palak Patel on Jul 16, 2016 13:09:55 GMT -4
This game has been out for such a short period of time, and I have been seeing it all over the news and media how popular and talkative it has got. Everyone talks about it affecting it in hundreds of different ways on their mental and medical health, but as the medical professionals we can actually dig in to it and know how it actually is beneficial to everyday life to everyone out there. As we all know a lot of the mental conditions are caused by some stressor/situations that people get caught into, I believe this game will definitely allow them to distract themselves from their routine life and make them feel fresh. They are more active and engaged in to more activities as they become exposed to outside environment. It can be useful as a therapy to get them back on to the normal health, and amazingly people who are practicing this will not even notice that this game is being used as a treatment for their mental disorder compared to the pharmacotherapy. The good thing about this Pokemon Go is that it will not only help the people who are already sick, but it will also be beneficial for the healthy people by keeping their body and mind active. It’s a good exercise to prevent obesity in people who aren’t in that range yet, and may help them live healthy life. However, all these are thoughts and sayings, to prove these connections between this game and the brain, the experts should consider some research on it..
|
|
Babatunde Azeez Balogun
Guest
|
Post by Babatunde Azeez Balogun on Jul 17, 2016 22:15:06 GMT -4
Mental health issues can present with different signs and one of such is seclusion and inability to be relate with people or social anxiety in some cases. The argument presented by a section of Pokemon Go players that it encourages them to leave their homes and head out into the world subsequently helping to combat depression and overcome social anxiety. This claim from some players of the game has been subjected to critique and some top psychiatrists have expressed opposing statements to the claim though research is still on-going and no definite point presented.
Even with the fun and various points shared by some in favor of Pokemon Go, I feel i should be done in moderation as several reports of inciting reckless driving, people encroaching on private properties without permission and some other negatives. I read online about confirmed cases of 2 men falling off a cliff, 3 teens stopped at a nuclear plant. Pokemon Go should be played within moderation and players should not put their lives or others to danger.
|
|
|
Post by Rozina Parbtani on Jul 19, 2016 21:57:28 GMT -4
Pokemon Go is a fairly new app that has been released in the form a game. It is based on the popular cartoon/game Pokemon which was first introduced by a Japanese company in 1995. It was first adopted as a game on game boy and the hype for it was crazy. Now several years later, Pokemon Go has been released which has targeted the same amount of media attention along with individuals using the application. The concept of the game is simple. Players have to walk around and capture Pokemons and also compete with each other. The very idea of the game to get individuals to walk around and become more active provides mental fortitude. Scientific research has time and again proved that physical activity enhances mental health. Aerobic exercises, including jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening, and dancing, have been proved to reduce anxiety and depression. These improvements in mood are proposed to be caused by exercise-induced increase in blood circulation to the brain and by an influence on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and, thus, on the physiologic reactivity to stress. This physiologic influence is probably mediated by the communication of the HPA axis with several regions of the brain, including the limbic system, which controls motivation and mood; the amygdala, which generates fear in response to stress; and the hippocampus, which plays an important part in memory formation as well as in mood and motivation. The makers of this game have created an avenue for individuals suffering from chronic conditions such as anxiety and depression to get excited about physical activity and this physical activity will lead to a decrease in their symptoms. It provides mentally ill patients with enough of a distraction from their fears and inner monologue to get them to do something that might be challenging for them. Although this game has proven to be effective in reducing anxiety, agoraphobia, and depression, to name a few psychiatric conditions, it has also been receiving some scrutiny as individuals might just use Pokemon Go as their primary source of interaction with the world. The game is fairly new so research is still quite limited but it would definitely be interesting to see how this game impacts mental health of not only those suffering from psychiatric conditions, but also the rest of the individuals without any history of mental illness.
|
|
Kadeem Sampath (MS3)
Guest
|
Post by Kadeem Sampath (MS3) on Jul 19, 2016 22:08:08 GMT -4
I think the concept of Pokemon Go is a very innovative and interesting app. It has both mental and physical components to the game. I think that walking around to find different Pokemon seems is innovative in that it engages the player into physical activity (even if it is simply walking). In addition, I think that there is a strong social component to the game which can attribute to mental health. Seeing as though people can advance their status by gaining more Pokemon may create a sense of accomplishment for some individuals. In addition, people may share the bond of having the app to discuss their findings and have a laugh with friends or other users of the app. However, although it has the mental health aspect, I do not think this is a “game changer” for significant mental health benefits. Pokemon Go in my opinion is simply a game which can promote some exercise and some stress relief for its players, even if it’s minute; because every little bit counts.
|
|
|
Post by Erica B. Bortmas on Jul 21, 2016 16:46:28 GMT -4
Alcohol, running, Pokemon Go! All of these things have something very special and important in common-- they must be used with common sense and in MODERATION! So many people are taking this game to the extreme, like many other things, and it is giving the game a bad wrap. When the game is played in moderation, like most other games, and the player uses common sense, there really are only positives to the Pokemon Go game. I have friends back home in Ohio who suffer from agoraphobia and social phobia, and this game has truly helped her "come out of her shell". She now is no longer afraid to go outside, she is interacting with people she doesn't know on a daily basis, and she even says she physically feels better and all because of Pokemon Go. On the flip side, we have 16yo kids walking into 5 lane highways and not looking up from their phone, getting hit by a car, and then blaming the incident on the Pokemon Go game. This is when I believe Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest" takes its truest form. People need to use common sense and stop finding things to blame their problems on.
|
|
Badursha Subramaniam
Guest
|
Post by Badursha Subramaniam on Jul 27, 2016 21:29:08 GMT -4
Pokemon Go, many people are against it, and many even think its a safty issue. But medicatally, I feel like it is helping alot of people with Depression and Anxiety. This game has gotten immediate attention in society now, and also have caused alot of accidents on the road. People are complaining of getting robbed and stabbed by being in the wrong places looking for Pokemon. People are looking at the negativites about this game, and not looking at the positive side, which is, Pokemon Go, has gotten alot of people active, and to move around than sitting at one place. This is a major source of exercise now. People who barely walked, left their house, or even moved from their bed or couch are finally moving, and getting their minds off of their worries. People say when they are playing it, they are more focused on the game that they tend to wonder away, and then they would look back at the distance the travelled. People are saying that it keeps them more calm when their mind is on looking for something.
Therefore I feel like Pokemon Go has its pros and cons, and if were taking it medically, there are more pros.
|
|
|
Post by Ali Reza Ahmed on Aug 1, 2016 12:12:16 GMT -4
Is Pokemon Go actually good for your health?? Who knows?? It is way to early to comment and assess what effects an augmented reality mobile gaming app would have on mental health. Several more years of research and analysis are need to make a sure and educated evaluation of the game and its effects on mental health.
I do think it will increasing socialization among those who are using the app, and there will always be those freak accidents where a person walked off a bridge or something in order to catch a rare Pokemon. But, in my personal experience and knowledge it probably has no significant positive or negative mental health effects. Perhaps the game does appeal to our neuronal pleasure centers because of the emphasis in the game on collecting rare Pokemon ( this would be no different than any other collecting hobby/game like Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, baseball cards, the only difference being that Pokemon-Go is all digital and uses your mobile phone).
Interesting article. I would say we have to wait and see.
-Some fun movie recommendations about how entertainment media/technology can influence our minds: - The Lawnmower Man - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Tron (1982) - The Matrix
|
|