Video games could help adults with depression, study reveals

Playing video games could help older adults combat depression, a new study has revealed.

Research at the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has showed that the use of "exergames" – video games which involve exercise – helped people with subsyndromal depression (SSD).

The study examined 19 people with SDD ranging in age from 63 to 94 who played a game on the Nintendo Wii during 35-minute sessions, three times a week.

Participants reported high satisfaction and rated the exergames on various attributes including enjoyment, mental effort, and physical limitations.

Dilip V. Jeste, who led the study and is a distinguished professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at UCSD School of Medicine, said: "Depression predicts nonadherence to physical activity, and that is a key barrier to most exercise programs."

"More than one-third of the participants had a 50-per cent or greater reduction of depressive symptoms. Many had a significant improvement in their mental health-related quality of life and increased cognitive stimulation," he added.

Earlier this week, researchers Rush University Medical Center said people with clinical depression who believe in a caring god show a better response to medical treatment for their condition.