Computer games are more effective than antidepressants
Computer games will protect you from depression in old age
The results of this work were published on August 5, 2014 in the journal Nature Communications (Morimoto et al., Neuroplasticity-based computerized cognitive remediation for treatment-resistant geriatric depression).
The study involved 272 people aged 50-88 years who did not have a positive reaction to taking antidepressants. The effect of two computer games was studied on the patients: in one of them, the volunteers had to press a button every time the ball changed color, in the other – to correlate objects to the appropriate lists. The first game was focused on concentration and accuracy, and the second – on reaction speed and accuracy. The better the participants played, the more difficult the game became.
Then the scientists compared the results with the results of a group of 250 elderly people who received the antidepressant escitalopram (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, SSRI). The results of the study showed that after four weeks (30 hours of play per week), the patients' condition improved as much as it could have happened after eight weeks of taking traditional medications.
To date, many studies have pointed to the benefits of computer games in neurological disorders; the new results support the available data on their effectiveness in the treatment of depression. However, it should be noted that the treatment of depression is not universal, and what helped one patient may not affect the body of another.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru24.11.2014