mental illness representation in video games

Video games now merit the attention of psychiatric practitioners as well as the public-and financial forecasters. That’s not to say the game is spotless. 1-3. While video games mature as a medium, so too does their ability to reflect a broader range of human issues. 1 Video games are currently three times as profitable as films. There are numerous games comprised of equally insensitive and lazy representations of individuals who have mental illnesses. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, let's talk about how mental illness is represented in video games and why that should change.. About a quarter of commercially released video games include characters with symptoms of a mental illness. The relationship between Max and Chloe is complicated and ambiguous, and has been the subject of much interpretation. Some recent video games seem to be following this trend too. Many representations of mental illness in video games both in the game itself and in advertisements stigmatize it, marking it as something which makes a person dangerous, violent, or not normal. And many forms of media appear to be making an effort to represent conditions such as depression and anxiety in a more accurate and empathetic way than in the past. Much attention has been showered on psychiatry’s representation in cinema. The stigma surrounding some mental health issues is thankfully starting to disappear. Better representation. Where video games fit in. Because of this, a variety of tropes often arise when a character with mental illness is created. You mentioned previous representations of mental illness in video games and from titles such as Eternal Darkness to more recent games such as Far Cry 3, mental illness … Others include Manhunt 2, a game … Dr. Sachin Shah of Gaming the Mind, a group of mental health professionals who have an interest in video games, feels so strongly that games can be used to highlight mental health issues that the group are currently developing a roleplaying video game that puts medical students in … Mental Health Representation Matters ... whether it's comics, TV shows, movies, books, or video games. Hellblade understands the medium of the video game, and the unique qualities that lie within. Representation is the key to kickstarting discussion, and video games have taken a woefully one-dimensional approach in the mental health … Unlike film, television, or literature, the interactive nature of gaming opens up whole new pathways in terms of representing the world. 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