Videogame Play and Wellbeing among a First Episode Psychosis Population

Abstract

With ongoing interest in the relationship between videogame and mental health alongside recent focus on gaming's role in coping with stressful life events, we sought to explore the relationship between videogame play and wellbeing among people experiencing their first episode of psychosis. Specifically, we aimed to explore the associations between videogame play and wellbeing among consumers of a first episode psychosis (FEP) service and further to compare their motivations for play, need satisfaction, passion for play and wellbeing to a control group. A sample of 88 people experiencing FEP (57 who played videogames and 31 who did not) and a control sample of 46 (all of whom played videogames) completed a survey containing a range of questionnaires related to the variables of interest. Key findings include that among those experiencing FEP, people who played videogames reported better wellbeing outcomes than those who did not. Among participants who played videogames, the FEP sample reported lower levels of need satisfaction through gaming, lower levels of harmonious passion, higher levels of external types of motivation and lower levels of internal types of motivation for play than the control group. Finally, the relationships between passion orientation (both harmonious and obsessive) and psychological distress were stronger in the control group than the FEP sample, suggesting that passion for gaming may be less influential on wellbeing for those experiencing FEP.