Call for Abstracts: Strange Bedfellows? Digital Games and Mental Health Revisited

Call for Abstracts Due August 24th, 2025

Panel (traditional) / In-Person

Ronja Tripp-Bodola (Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans)
 rbod@****.com (Log-in to reveal)

Mental health continues to be an issue that impacts our work with students. Based on the recent, first FDA-approved prescription game for children with ADHD as well as trends of gamifying classrooms, this session invites interdisciplinary perspectives on mental health and digital games. Contributors will discuss topics, themes, game-play, etc. related to mental health issues, as well as the games' potential interactions with players' and creators' mental well-being.

Until recently, video games had a bad reputation regarding mental health. From the 1976 arcade game “Death Race”, the dominant rhetoric claimed that certain games promoted violence and caused behavioral issues. Neuroscientific research tried to underscore the adverse cultural impact by investigating brain activity involved in game-play, and addiction psychiatry looked into correlations between games and gambling addiction.

The public discourse started to shift with the first FDA-approved prescription game, "EndeavorRx", in addition to other developments such as so-called cozy games, the rise of independent and amateur game creation, and games and gamification in clinical settings. Related research found what avid gamers had suspected all along: In contrast to the adverse effects, digital games can be an antidote to depression, stress and anxiety, and even mitigate cognitive or developmental disorders.

As mental health continues to be an issue that impacts our work with students, alongside the growing interest in game studies and the increasing gamification of our classrooms, this session invites interdisciplinary perspectives on mental health and digital games. Contributors will discuss topics, themes, game-play related to mental health issues, as well as impact of playing or creating games on mental health. Contributors are invited to engage with this health humanities topic from their discipline's perspective, including literary and cultural studies, media/film/game studies, pedagogy and creative writing.

Presentations are welcome to focus on any of the following, or propose a new focus:

- mental health narratives in video games

- themes and topics related to mental health

- depiction of pathologies, patients, providers, mental health institutions

- games in context of mental health visual culture

- genres of mental health games

- game-play and game design

- writing for games

- creating games

- health games

- gamification in the classroom

Questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out (rbodol@lsuhsc.edu).

Abstracts and short bios are due August 24.