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Mobile device & mental health: your tips

Marjo
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Hi everyone,

 

I recently read an article on The Mighty that I thought was interesting to post about here on the community. The article is called 25 Phone Games People with Depression Play at Night and you can read it fully here

 

The article discusses specifically mobile gaming and how it can help with nighttime challenges when living with depression, and lists games that users of The Mighty living with depression have actually played and found helpful.

 

It would be interesting to widen the discussion a bit to include not only mobile games, but anything that has helped you cope with depression or other mental health issues using a mobile device. I'd love to hear your thoughts around this. slight smile

 

Do you have any experience with this that you would like to share with the community? Any tips on games or apps for example that others in similar situations could also try?

 

Thanks!

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Cleoriff
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An absolutely fascinating article @Marjo

I have never once thought about game playing as a method of relaxation and certainly not to help those with mental health issues.

It's a change in the times I expect and if it works for many people, then that's pretty good. 

I see they have a mental health expert attached to the community so that certainly adds credibility to the article.

 

I don't play games now. I think the last ones I played were Farmville and Chuzzle.

 

I find my method of relaxation before sleep is reading. I can read for a long time and fall asleep with a book in my hand. It's my way of immersing myself in something which isn't real.

 

Thanks for posting. It's so interesting.

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Marjo
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@Cleoriff As a gamer myself I can say that I've found some games super relaxing if there's no element of panic or especially time limits / count-downs which I find stressful in games. For relaxing before sleep, I find card games helpful, e.g. Fairway Solitaire which I take my time with. There's an element of distraction from the real world in games I suppose similarly to reading books or watching movies. slight_smile 

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jonsie
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As someone who suffers from severe depression I have never thought of mobile games. I hated them with a passion previously but maybe I should look at this as an option. Not altogether sure about this but I'm open to anything that could help.

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pgn
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I would find it extremely satisfying to be able to fling someone's mobile out through the window some times , particularly when they're yelling on it at the top of their voice right next to or opposite me in a bus, on a train or in a coffee-shop or restaurant - does that count?  yahoo

 

Seriously, one thing I have noticed is how a few rounds of a word-puzzle game, Wordscapes (on Kindle Fire, admittedly) calm our young chap before he falls asleep at night. One downside is many games these days require a live Internet connection, so are of limited use when on a bus, train or plane (for the most part). 

 

As I sat on the flight home fro Spain last night, I saw the lady in the seat across the aisle and one up from me buried alternately in Candy Crush on her phone or in a word-puzzle in some "Hello"-style mag and I realised that every app on my phone relies on a data signal - I don't even have Solitaire or Scrabble on it, and I loved Chuzzle on the PC! 

 

I'd say as phones have grown in compute power and memory capacity, being able to load them up with some games that could be played entirely off-line is a good thing. Some of the ones in the article @Marjo cites are like that, others presume interaction with a live data signal, and which can be the opposite of relaxing. Heaven knows, a heated argument on Twitter, in e-mail or even on here has had more of an exacerbating effect on here than a realsxing one... 

 

I feel another round of anger management classes coming up for me, given my opening statement above. D'oh!

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ComaChameleon
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Aloha guys.

 

As I'm depressive too, I need to relax in my freetime. And I "play" two games since some weeks.

 

One is "Helix Jump" (you have to bring a ball down several grounds, there are parts you're not allowed to hit and holes - where it goes down.)

and the other one is "Color by number"

as it says, you have to color pixels by number.... it's very relaxing. I showed it my mum and she is doing it all the time x'D

 

Cheers

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Anonymous
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As a long time sufferer with poor mental health I am really glad of this topic ... discovered quite by chance I play 4 very simple games on my mobile ... usually when trying to rest / relax & everything else isn't working ... I believe it takes my mind off other things which are worrying me & calms me down

I cannot concentrate to read a book anymore but these kiddie games = Talking Ginger + Klondike + Meow Match + Pop Time (Simon's Cat) are therapeutic ... On the odd ocassion I play them for a short time in public eg when waiting for a friend in the pub = I turn the sound off out of politeness to other people

I only play these games for a short period of time, but they are helpful & a resource to use smiling

 

Edited for making sense

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Glory1
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I love playing games on my phone and Kindle. Mainly match 3 games and word games on my phone, the majority of which can be played offline. On my Kindle, in addition to match 3 games, I also have solitaire, find the difference, mahjong and hidden object games all of which can be played offline.

I find games very relaxing as well as reading and TV,

If games can help people with mental health issues I think that's fantastic. And the Google Play Store and I imagine the App Store have many games that can be played offline saving data usage.
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Jenny105
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Hi   I did suffer from severe depression before the age of smartphones.hiPhone use is an interesting idea

Some  thoughts 

  • Game that are soothing & not too challenging.
  • A game to lift you up not cause feelings of failure & worthlessness.
  • Phones could  be used to play soothing music, or soothing sounds eg running streams , waves , birdsong  (Are there such websites or is you tube supplying these?)
  • Personally when life is really challenging and sleep disturbed  or sleep wont come my solution has been to get up & take  cereal and fruit, or rice cakes and nutella etc (carbohydrate) back to bed; Switch on my Kobo (kindle) to read a gentle story.
  • There is such a situation now I'm reading a gentle story about Land Army Girls which gently dozes me back to sleep. (Reading might require too much concentraion in serious depressive states tho.)
  • In the day i use Sudoku by StudioFive27 4 levels , simple to use

Using IT is an interesting idea. Over all I'd say have something ready that isnt over challenging; is simple, promotes self worth not failure .  Id be interested to know what others have to say as one of my younger family is depressively challenged at the present.

 

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Jenny105
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As an addendum I view depression as a medical condition in the same way as say high blood pressure or vascular illness. The latter have had far more research than depression so treatment is better researched too. We don't understand its causes and it is treated by many as a weird illness when it is just an illness like any other but not yet understood. That's a bit wordy and profound but worth a 'disscusive' mentioning ……… well I hope so

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