Skip to main content

Game Over, Trauma! Empowering Trauma Healing Through Gaming

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Extended Reality (XR Salento 2023)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to propose the development of a serious game centered on psychological trauma that promotes awareness, informs about best treatment practices, instills hope, and provides basic tools to cope with possible symptoms related to trauma. The game will be designed using the Person Centered Approach (PCA) and the five pillars of Trauma Informed Care (TIC) as the theoretical framework. The study will use a mixed-methods pre-post design to evaluate the effectiveness of the game in increasing awareness of psychological trauma and improving players’ sense of security. The game is expected to improve player awareness of psychological trauma, to increase their sense of security, and to encourage them to seek professional help when needed. Overall, this study has the potential to contribute to the development of effective interventions for psychological trauma using serious games.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baranowski, T., et al.: Video game play, child diet, and physical activity behavior change: a randomized clinical trial. Am. J. Prev. Med. 40(1), 33–38 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breslau, N., Davis, G.C., Andreski, P., Peterson, E.: Traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder in an urban population of young adults. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 55(7), 573–579 (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, R.A., Harvey, A.G., Dang, S.T., Sackville, T., Basten, C.: Treatment of acute stress disorder: a comparison of cognitive-behavioral therapy and supportive counseling. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 66(5), 862–866 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeSmet, A., et al.: A meta-analysis of serious digital games for healthy lifestyle promotion. Prev. Med. 69, 95–107 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eichenberg, C., Schott, M.: Serious games for psychotherapy: a systematic review. Games Health J. 6(3), 127–135 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felitti, V.J., et al.: Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. Am. J. Prev. Med. 14(4), 245–258 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford, J.D., Courtois, C.A.: Complex PTSD, affect dysregulation, and borderline personality disorder. Borderline Pers. Disord. Emot. Dysregulat. 1, 1–17 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, M.E., Fallot, R.D.: Using Trauma Theory to Design Service Systems. Jossey-Bass/Wiley, Hoboken (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, S.: A person-centered perspective on working with people who have experienced psychological trauma and helping them move forward to posttraumatic growth. Person-Centered Experiential Psychotherapies 14(3), 178–190 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiili, K., De Freitas, S., Arnab, S., Lainema, T.: The design principles for flow experience in educational games. Procedia Comput. Sci. 15, 78–91 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R.C., Sonnega, A., Bromet, E., Hughes, M., Nelson, C.B.: Posttraumatic stress disorder in the national comorbidity survey. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 52(12), 1048–1060 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knipscheer, J., et al.: Prevalence of potentially traumatic events, other life events and subsequent reactions indicative for posttraumatic stress disorder in the Netherlands: a general population study based on the trauma screening questionnaire. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 17(5), 1725 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lau, H.M., Smit, J.H., Fleming, T.M., Riper, H.: Serious games for mental health: are they accessible, feasible, and effective? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Front. Psych. 7, 209 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, C., Roberts, N.P., Andrew, M., Starling, E., Bisson, J.I.: Psychological therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder in adults: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur. J. Psychotraumatol. 11(1), 1729633 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maslow, A.H.: A theory of human motivation. Psychol. Rev. 50(4), 370–396 (1943)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLean, S.A., Clauw, D.J., Abelson, J.L., Liberzon, I.: The development of persistent pain and psychological morbidity after motor vehicle collision: integrating the potential role of stress response systems into a biopsychosocial model. Psychosom. Med. 67(5), 783–790 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michael, D.R., Chen, S.L.: Serious Games: Games that Educate, Train, and Inform. Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • Newzoo. 2021 Global Games Market Report (2021). https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/2021_Free_Global_Games_Market_Report.pdf?_hsmi=137551623

  • Primack, B.A., et al.: Role of video games in improving health-related outcomes: a systematic review. Am. J. Prev. Med. 42(6), 630–638 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ranjbar, N., Erb, M., Mohammad, O., Moreno, F.A.: Trauma-informed care and cultural humility in the mental health care of people from minoritized communities. Focus 18(1), 8–15 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, C.: Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory. Constable, London (1951). ISBN 1-84119-840-4

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, C.R.: The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 21, 95–103 (1957)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statista. Distribution of video gamers worldwide as of January 2020, by gender (2021a). https://www.statista.com/statistics/232383/gender-split-of-us-computer-and-video-gamers/

  • Statista. Age of U.S. video game players in 2020 (2021b). https://www.statista.com/statistics/189582/age-of-us-video-game-players-since-2010/

  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach (2014). https://ncsacw.acf.hhs.gov/userfiles/files/SAMHSA_Trauma.pdf

  • Wouters, P., Van Nimwegen, C., Van Oostendorp, H., Van Der Spek, E.D.: A meta-analysis of the cognitive and motivational effects of serious games. J. Educ. Psychol. 105(2), 249 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giulio Ammannato .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Ammannato, G., Chiesi, F. (2023). Game Over, Trauma! Empowering Trauma Healing Through Gaming. In: De Paolis, L.T., Arpaia, P., Sacco, M. (eds) Extended Reality. XR Salento 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14219. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43404-4_31

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43404-4_31

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-43403-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-43404-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics