Conference paper
USE OF VIDEO GAMES IN A CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC UNIT
Mouna Al Husni Al Keilani
; Queen Fabiola University Children Hospital, Department of Child Psychiatry, Brussels, Belgium
Veronique Delvenne
; Queen Fabiola University Children Hospital, Department of Child Psychiatry, Brussels, Belgium
Abstract
Background: Video game has become the preferred form of play among youth. Substantial research has mainly examined
problems related to potential negative effects of video games ranging from sedentary screen time, exposure to violence, and excessive
or problematic gaming. However, over the past two decades, the use of video games in psychotherapy has become increasingly
popular with a lot of applications.
Subjects and methods: After a review of the use and the effectiveness of commercial video games in the psychotherapy framework,
we will share our experience in the use of video games in a child and adolescent psychiatric unit. We will illustrate it with the
presentation of specific case reports.
Result: As video games are highly popular among children and adolescents, they are also interesting tools in the psychotherapeutic
work with them. It’s a new kind of play therapy, considering the setting, the psychological material that expresses
during the game, the interpersonal relationships between gamers, the projective representation within the avatars, the cognitive
strategies within the game.
Conclusions: Video games represent an essential tool in taking care of child psychiatric patients because of their popularity.
They contribute greatly to build the patient/psychotherapist relationship. They help to approach cognitive, emotional and social
patient’s functioning, and also psychopathologic understanding and then psychiatric diagnosis.
Keywords
commercial video games; psychotherapy; child psychiatry; group therapy; children; adolescents
Hrčak ID:
262511
URI
Publication date:
24.3.2020.
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