Ville Tapio runs a private psychiatry centre in Helsinki and he’s come up with a way treating mental health concerns, mainly ADHD, without the use of drugs.
He’s using specially created video games that aim to change the way that the mind works, with a technique termed as ‘gameified neuroplasticity therapy’.
The University of Helsinki is known for its neuroscience research and they have already looked into game play, testing out why Angry Birds is so addictive.
€790,000 were put into Tapio’s company from Finnish investment board Tekes last year in order to test out a game designed to cure the systems of ADHD. This works through a headset that scans the brain:
“We start the gaming treatment by analyzing the person’s brains, and defining the areas of the brain which are too active or not active enough,” said Tapio. “And then we create a gaming plan that will stimulate those areas of the brain.”
It is not an alternative to therapy, but this kind of symptom control may be an alternative to drugs Tapio explains.
What do you think of this? Could it really help? Let us know in the comments.