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Fearfighter: Fighting Phobias With Video Games

The military has used video games as training simulators, and the army has used them as a stress relief device, both on the field and as a possible supplementary treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Advances made in real time 3-D rendering have been put to use in training medical students through the use of surgery simulation software. Now, mental health may also greatly benefit from video game technology.

If a person has a phobia, it can be debilitating. Claustrophobic people often have to resort to using stairs because the elevator is a tight space and they are unable to stay in it for any length of time. People with a fear of heights may experience discomfort in everything ranging from climbing up stairs to looking out the window of a plane in flight. So researchers in the UK have combined efforts with game developers to design a game that will help sufferers overcome phobias and fears using an interactive simulated environment.

The British psychiatric game Fearfighter outside site is a form of Computer Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CCBT). According to the Fearfighter website, "FearFighter has undergone extensive testing and trial pilots involving 700 patients and has received an endorsement by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) as being proven to be clinically effective as well as cost effective... In the NICE Final Appraisal Determination (FAD), FearFighter has been recommended as an option for delivering CBT in the management of panic and phobia." The site adds that CCBT like Fearfighter is an effective treatment for additional conditions, including

The games let both the therapist and the client adjust the level of realism in the game environment as needed. While Fearfighter does not simulate environments with total accuracy, it has been shown as providing a realistic enough simulation to have an appreciable effect on patients.

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