English subtitles for clip: File:How video games can boost your mental health.webm

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Do you play video games?

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I will tell you
how that could be good for you.

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[How can video games
boost your menthal health?]

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[This is University of the Netherlands]

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When you play video games?

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Sometimes we play when we are stressed.

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For example, when we're commuting
on the train, and it's loud and crowded.

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Or we play because we want
to interact with others,

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something many people have done
during social isolation

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when we have no other way
of reaching our friends.

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And sometimes, the world
around us is just too much.

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And we look for a world
where we are guided, goals are clear,

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and the stories are rich in fantasy
and emotional content.

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Video games provide us with all that.

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And where all these aspects are important
to understand, games have more facets.

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Video games in comparison
to books or movies

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allow us to actively engage
and immerse ourselves through play.

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With our actions and choices in a game,

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we can decide what happens
and experience different outcomes.

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Video games are played
by millions of people around the world

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of all ages, races, and genders.

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In my research, I found that games
are also played by people

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across a range of
mental health indicators.

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People who are depressed
or suffer from anxiety still play games

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which makes video games a great platform
to support better mental health.

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I'm invested in the question of

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what video games have to offer
to support mental health

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and what the way we use video games
tell us about how well we are?

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In this lecture, I will explain a bit
about the power of play

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and why I believe
that video games are great

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and maybe an unexpected resource
for your mental health.

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Before we dive into video games

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let’s look at why video games are so great
to study people’s behaviors and feelings.

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Games in contrast 
to courses and programs

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are something people engage with
because they want to,

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not because they feel they have to.

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This makes games or game elements 
an interesting tool for education and therapy.

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But how video games
can influence how we feel?

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Being masterfully designed, video games
provide us with enjoyable challenges,

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allow us to play with our friends

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and give us choices to be wherever
we want to be, explore fantastical worlds.

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If you’d played games

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think about a difficult section
of a game you try to overcome.

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How you had fun with your friends,

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or how you made
meaningful choices during play.

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Competence, autonomy,
and feeling connected to others

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have been identified this experience that
we need to flourish in personally grow.

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In psychology, the theory
that explains the positive effect

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of competence autonomy
and relatedness on our potential to grow

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is called Self-determination theory.

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It is important for our well-being
to have experiences

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where we feel we are in control
and/or master a new task.

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For example, when learning
a new musical instrument.

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It is important to experience

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that we are not just forced
into behaving a certain way

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but that we can make
meaningful choices about our lives.

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And than we feel like we belong
that we are not alone.

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Applying self-determination theory
to video games research

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has shown that violence
might drop players in.

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But not necessarily because of
a violent act like shooting itself,

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but because first-person
shooters like Call of Duty

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involve challenging tasks like
planning, strategizing, aiming,

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and reacting in the right moment.

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And when we feel like we're mastering
the complexity of the game

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that involves decisions
and rapid, precise actions,

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we enjoy ourselves and experience growth.

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One way to express ourselves in games
is by creating an in-game character.

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Or avatar.

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When we create our own avatar,

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we feel like we connect more to a game.

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and choices in games make us
feel like we're in control,

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even if the rest of our own life
might feel different.

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These experiences and games are intense
and sometimes really wholesome,

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as games such as Animal Crossing show.

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In Animal Crossing, you play
a character stranded on an island

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and the majority of the game revolves
around unlocking new options

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to customize your home, structure
your island in ways you like it to be,

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and invite your friends to share
how you create your own world.

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These feelings of autonomy

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and the accompanied engagement
by our own choice

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lead to feelings of enjoyment, make us
feel well and good about ourselves.

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Connecting to other players
or bonding with a game avatar

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can also create
strong experience of belonging.

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This can, for example, be the connection

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e-sports players feel
towards their team members.

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In e-sports players spend similar
amounts of time as soccer player

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in training and learning the game.

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And as a result, they feel
a strong connection to each other.

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Or playing Fortnight allows players
to connect with their friends

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and cooperate in a dangerous
game world to survive.

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Of course, games where we cooperate
or interact with others

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can also be frustrating

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when the team isn't performing well,
or you're not performing well in the team.

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But when it works out, social interaction
in games can give a sense of fulfillment,

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just like social interactions
in our daily lives.

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Having a source that we can turn to

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where we experience competence,
autonomy, and relatedness

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makes us more resilient
to negative events in daily life.

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Playing in moderation can help us
to deal with separation, job loss,

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self-doubt and social isolation.

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And sometimes games can help us
just by allowing us to distract ourselves

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until we are ready to face
the consequences of negative events.

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In my research, I've also shown

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that gameplay can reduce
anxiety in the moment

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and that game design elements like avatars

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can support engagement
in regular training programs

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like learning relaxing
breathing techniques.

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So, video games can influence
how we feel--good or bad--

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and might even help
with dealing with anxiety.

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Apart from these effects in regular games,

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there are also games that are directed
towards understanding mental illnesses

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and even ones that can help to treat them.

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One element of game and gameplay

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that can be used in coping
with a support mental health treatment

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is the story or narrative of a game.

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The story of a video game allows us
to engage with different topics

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and learn about mental health.

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And from the perspective
of treating mental health,

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understanding when we are ill
and need help

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and learning how exactly our mental health
influences us is of importance.

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The game "Hellblade:
Senua's Sacrifice", for example,

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allows us to engage with a protagonist
who suffers from schizophrenia.

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An illness where people interpret
the world differently than most of us.

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They hear voices or see things
that are not there.

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Schizophrenia is often confused
with multiple personality disorder

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to describe people who show
differences in their personality.

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Hellblade sets an example

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where we can learn about different
mental health conditions

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and their effects
on what we hear, see, or feel.

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By creating a game
that allows players to experience

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how a mental illness is experienced,

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the threshold to learn
about mental illnesses becomes slower.

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Because people engage with the game

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because they want to and not
because they feel they have to,

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it becomes easier to engage with topics
that would otherwise be neglected.

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Many mental illnesses affect
our mood, thinking and behavior.

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Anxiety can lead us to believe

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future problems are bigger
than they actually are.

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Depression leads us to lose hope
about the future.

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In eating disorders, I expressed
misconceptions about our bodies.

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Video games have the power
to tell narratives.

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And different mental illnesses,

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they allow us to represent
visual experiences,

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like the world looking hopeless
or they can alter what we hear,

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and they can sometimes teach us techniques

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to overcome challenging
moments in our life.

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Video games [...] no circumstances
or replacement for professional help,

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but they can be a resource that helps us
to overcome adverse moments in life.

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The game "That Dragon, Cancer"
addresses the desperation of child loss.

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It allows the game creators
Ryan and Amy Green

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to share their most personal experience.

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Or the game Papo & Yo
throws the player into a world

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where our best friend
can turn into a monster

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providing insights
into the dynamic of alcohol abuse

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and its effect on children.

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As such games
addressing challenging topics

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allow us to express
and examine these topics,

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engage in conversations
and share perspective,

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ultimately leading to an increase
in openness and support among each other.

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Gamers can also make
a change for our well-being

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by showing how diverse the world is.

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Today, many games to use make efforts
to represent diversity in games

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and show more protagonists
than only white male players.

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But make space for players with diverse
backgrounds, preferences, and abilities.

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I hope in the future we see
more games representing society

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and not just a limited
and outdated customer base.

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Why is representation in games
so important for mental well-being?

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Social isolation is incredibly harmful
[...].

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Therefore representation
and inclusion in games

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really matter
for the well-being of society.

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We all need heroes we can look up to
and characters we can identify with.

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Today, even more than ever being able
to enjoy games and play with others

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is essential to connecting
and feeling connected to others.

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So far, we have seen
that games can help people grow

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and how they can be used
to improve mental well-being.

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Video games are sometimes depicted
as being focused on violence

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and that they make us lazy
and that they're played excessively.

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As much enjoyment, fun, and connection
games should bring to society

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[...] most things that we enjoy,

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like sports or art
or going up with friends,

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if video games are good for us depends.

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Psychology distinguishes
between harmonious and obsessive passion,

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a concept applicable to many areas
in life like sport, work, and video games.

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Harmonious passion is when we played
because we really like to.

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Obsessive passion is when we engage
because we feel like we have to.

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Research shows that if an activity
like gaming is harmful to us

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depends on what drives us to play.

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Do we really enjoy playing?

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Or are we just playing because we feel
lonely, and games are a reliable escape?

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Or are we playing because we're striving,

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because we love the world we explore.

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We appreciate the artwork

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and our investment in play aligns
with our lifestyle.

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Or do we engage
because we feel like we have a duty

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like we miss out when we don't play.

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Or we constantly don't know
what else to do with our time.

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With video gameplay,
it is like eating, working or exercising.

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We have to be mindful of ourselves
and listen to how much feels good for us.

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Investigating what video games
have to offer for our own mental health

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and for understanding
societal mental health,

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we find a rich environment
that enables researchers

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to investigate low mental health,

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to create interventions
that help people with mental health

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or to educate those who don't understand
what it means to suffer from an illness.

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Games can help us build
more inclusive societies,

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engage in your challenges, find
your own power and connect with friends.

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So when answering the question, how can
video games boost your mental health?

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I'd say they can help us
deal with a complex world,

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help us reflect and grow

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and are an undervalued resource
for our mental health.

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Thank you for watching