Finally an excuse to play video games! A study recently conducted at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada (UQO) found that computer video games are an effective method of treating people's fears and phobias.

The study, titled "A Comparative Study of the Reactions of Phobic and Non-phobic Participants in Therapeutic Virtual Environments Derived from Computer Games," exposed people to what scares them in a controlled setting.

The study used inexpensive and readily adaptable PC computer games to provide exposure therapy to 13 phobic participants and 13 non-phobic control participants, said Genevieve Robillard, research coordinator at the UQO Cyberpsychology Lab who assisted in the study.

According to the study, anxiety could be induced in phobic participants by exposing them to phobogenic stimuli -- stimuli that induce phobias -- in therapeutic virtual environments derived from computer games. The virtual environments from the video games were able to produce the mid-range levels of anxiety that are most useful in therapy because exposure to settings that scare them has been found to reduce fear in phobics, Robillard said.

Robillard, a graduated Master student in psychoeducation at the UQO, said the study started in 2000. From the study, researchers found that "video games are effective to treat spider, height and enclosed spaces phobias," she said. "If we can treat phobias with video games, we probably could prevent them too."

She said the regression of a phobia depends on the severity and the motivation of the client to confront his or her fears.

"Usually, therapy lasts from eight to ten sessions, including assessment and conceptualization of the problem.
Exposure therapy lasts about six to eight one-hour weekly sessions," she said.

In conducting the study, researchers found that certain people were more likely to have phobias. These included "people with parents who also fear something, [such as] having a bad experience like being stuck in an elevator, or simply people who have high anxiety sensitivity. Women are more likely to have phobias," Robillard said.

President of the Computer Network Club Brian Newhard said, "Personally, I'm not a fan of snakes and spiders, but I can play through a video game where snakes and spiders are the enemies. This is because the real ones can bite me, the video game versions cannot, and my mind know the difference."

While television and movies also expose violent and "scary" scenarios and experiences to viewers, Robillard said that video games are much more instrumental in helping phobic individuals because video games "have the advantage of being interactive, immersive, involving and realist."

"I don't think a mature adult would be very influenced by violence on TV in the 21th Century," she said.

Video gamer Brian Halpin (freshman-information sciences and technology), thinks that using video games to reduce phobias would be practical considering the current popularity of video games.

"I haven't had any personal experiences that I've worked out with video games," he said, "but considering that video games are more and more realistic, I think it would be beneficial for phobics to overcome their fears with such an inexpensive method. If you get the same results, then why not?"

Despite Halpin's positive attitude toward the preventative method, he does not agree it would work for him.

"If you play violent games in the first place, you have the common sense to separate the game from reality. Video games are made for entertainment," he said.

"If someone thinks it's realistic, like a phobic, and could get help from it, then that's great," he said. "But if you play a fighting video game and then think you know kung fu, or that you could beat someone in a fight, then you probably shouldn't be playing the games in the first place. If someone held a gun to my face in real life, I'd probably pee my pants."

"For me, it wouldn't work, but for other people, then maybe," he added.

Newhard (junior-information sciences and technology) doubts the successful effects of video game therapy for phobics.

"Video games have never helped me overcome any fears or phobias, and I [do] not think that video games can be an effective aid to that end," he said. "I think that the mind can easily distinguish the real from the on-screen phobic entities and have a different response from each,"

While Newhard is skeptical that video games can have effects on long-term fears or phobias, he thinks that videogames can induce fear or change one's emotional state on a temporary basis.

"There are many scary videogames that can put you in a state to be easily startled, or increase your pulse and blood-pressure," he said.