Video Games and Mental Health

How do video games and mental health intersect from the perspectives of psychology and game design? In recent years, the topic of mental health has gained tremendous importance for the games industry, affecting both the applied and entertainment games sectors. The former draws from established practices in diagnostics, digital medicine, therapy, and self-help to develop innovative and accessible tools; the latter follows in the tradition of games d'auteur, addressing the topic of mental health from a personal perspective. The contributors to this volume inspect current trends and future perspectives related to these phenomena to inform the work of psychologists and game designers.

Federico Alvarez Igarzábal (Dr.) works at the Cologne Game Lab of Technische Hochschule Köln as researcher and project coordinator for the ISEDA project. The goal of this project is to deliver a series of tools and strategies, including a serious game, to combat domestic violence in Europe. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher for the project VIRTUALTIMES, aimed at developing virtual environments to treat and diagnose psychopathologies like depression. He conducted his Ph.D. at Universität Köln and Technische Hochschule Köln on the topic of »Time and Space in Video Games«.