D&D General Boosting mental health with Dungeons and Dragons

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One of the local news stations Kob 4 spoke with the folks over University of New Mexico health

Boosting mental health with Dungeons and Dragons | Healthy Living with UNM Health

In this week’s Healthy Living segment, UNM Health shows us how a community program is using a popular role-playing game to teach people how to face their fears.

www.kob.com

 

[aco175]

Positive story. There should be one now about first-person shooter video games being good for something.

 

[aiouh]

I don't doubt for a second that playing RPGs with a friendly and safe environment has positive effects on mental health.

The great thing about RPGs is that its physically and economically accessible and involves a lot of creativity and self-expression without requiring any crazy hard skills like musical instruments, painting or sports.

 

[Dausuul]

Positive story. There should be one now about first-person shooter video games being good for something.

Polygon has you covered: Research shows playing first-person shooters improves learning abilities, cognitive function

Most things have benefits and drawbacks. The question is how they sum out.

 

[Dausuul]

The great thing about RPGs is that its physically and economically accessible and involves a lot of creativity and self-expression without requiring any crazy hard skills like musical instruments, painting or sports.

None of those requires crazy hard skills to do. All require a ton of work and talent to excel at.

This is a pet peeve of mine -- the idea that things aren't worth doing unless you can hang with the pros. You can play baseball with your friends without any of you being able to hack it in professional play or even make the cut on your local high school team. I'd argue the basics of D&D are actually harder to learn than the basics of painting and most sports. (I suspect the same is true of playing an instrument, but I don't play any so I can't say for sure.) When you've been doing it a long time, it's easy to forget how thick those books are.

That said , I absolutely agree that D&D is much more accessible for people with physical impairments. If you have problems with motor control, say, that can close off a whole lot of activities; but D&D requires essentially zero physical capability.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Something a lot of people do find crazy hard is small talk. D&D is an excellent substitute for that.

None of those requires crazy hard skills to do

Say that when you have been kicked out of as many choirs as I have!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

With a right Game/Dungeon master you can practice your social skills such as empathy, diplomacy, teamwork, or negotiation. And the TTRPGs can help you to improve the four Cs of education: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration.

You enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when your PC levels up. You learn to calculate risks and think about long-term consequences. you can learn from failure and get back on your feet. You feel a catharsis when you stand firm against your enemies when they keep coming back to cause trouble again, because that is like fighting against your depression.