Games, word puzzles, and number puzzles have long been believed to help improve memory and concentration. There is a huge market of “brain fitness” games that claim to make our brains better, faster, smarter. Whether the games really do what they claim to do is up for debate, but the brain game market is booming nevertheless. Now, startup company Alkili claims they have a game developed that will go farther than the rest of the brain games available; Alkili claims their game will help treat psychiatric disorders, including conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and more. The company is so confident in the game’s therapeutic abilities that the game is going to go through the full range of clinical trials so that it may get approval from the Food and Drug Administration as a medical device. Alkili believes that someday games may replace pharmaceutical drugs as treatment for certain people struggling with mental illness.
If the game is approved by the FDA, and if it does in fact help treat psychiatric disorders, the ramifications of this could be astonishing. Children who struggle with psychiatric disorders or mental illness in childhood are likely to have the same struggles as adults, especially if they don’t receive proper and timely treatment. Mentally ill adults and adults suffering from psychiatric disorders are more likely than the general public to become entangled in the justice system, and possibly find themselves in jail. Many parents are hesitant to give young children pharmaceutical drugs, which have side effects, but most parents have no qualms against letting their child play a video game. If effective, the game could be a tool that may help improve mental health for the long term.
It will take several years and lots of money before the game is finished with clinical trials. If approved, Alkili has several more similar games in the works that may be effective treatment tools as well.
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