Can Gaming Be a Legitimate Path to Emotional Healing?

[Shree]

Games that explore loss, anxiety, or growth are gaining popularity. Have you ever used gaming to process emotions, trauma, or grief in a healthy way?

 

[Hazel]

I think many people have without even realizing it. Games that explore emotions can act almost like therapy. They give space to feel, reflect, and make choices without real-world consequences. Personally, I’ve found that certain story-driven games help process emotions that are hard to articulate. They let you confront sadness, regret, or loss through a safe narrative lens. It’s not a substitute for therapy, of course, but it can be deeply grounding, almost like a digital form of emotional journaling.

 

[Brem]

I use gaming to ease my stress and anxiety, and there has been games that made me feel emotions. Like the first season of The Walking Dead by telltale games, or something like Red Dead Redemption 2. I also like to use it to help me relax. I'll mention RDR2 again, it can be relaxing to just ride your horse around the world, maybe do some fishing or hunting. Or just ride the mountains and see the glorious sights. I think gaming can help with a lot.

But, I think it depends on the person, I think gaming can legitimately help people overcome some of their day to day issues. Or at the least help give them a relaxing hobby to enjoy in the meantime. Helps them over stress, anxiety, and depression. I think gaming gives people some control on things, and that makes things feel a bit better. That's how I see it anyway.