Video games have woven themselves into the fabric of modern culture, with every age group enjoying them vividly. The year 2023 has also been a blessing to gamers; with the upcoming arrival of AAA blockbusters such as Spider-Man 2 and Starfield. While casual players enjoy the thrill of gaming, some experts have discovered that gaming can aid with neurodevelopmental disorders.
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ADHD, a common neurodevelopmental disorder, affects roughly 8.7 million people in the United States alone. However, the most widely used ADHD medicine, Adderall, is now in low supply in the United States. To tackle this problem, researchers are looking at video games to come to the rescue.
Can video games be an alternative to ADHD medication?
While the FDA and DEA are looking to solve the Adderall shortage in the US, researchers are claiming video games can be a good alternative. This research has found the support of the agencies who acknowledged the positive effects of a “game-based digital therapeutic.”
The FDA has already approved the gaming alternative for ADHD since 2020. The alternative uses non-drug, gaming-based treatment to improve attention function in children with this disorder. Dubbed the EndeavorRx, the video game easily fared through all the FDA tests and was successful in its clinical trial too.
The developers of EndeavorRx claimed that about 66% of children playing their game saw a significant drop in symptoms of ADHD. However, it has yet to be proven that video games may totally substitute Adderall-based therapy for affected individuals. But this form of treatment is slowly gaining traction in the US, even for substance use disorders.
Other use cases of gaming-based treatments
In September 2017, FDA approved the use of a mobile app to treat people with SUDs (Substance Use Disorder). Named as the reSET app, it allows users to track their own progress via therapy modules.
The success of this app prompted many researchers to look at video games to be a viable option for treatments, with popular titles, such as Minecraft and Roblox.
The merger of the medical and video games industries, however, still has a long way to go. But the successful merger of these two industries will hopefully benefit people dealing with ADHD.
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