Breathe and Rescue: Exploring Game-Based Breathing Therapies for Anxiety

Mental health issues have risen recently, precipitating the need to discover newer and more effective therapy solutions. Human-computer interaction (HCI) research has shown promise for helping advance mental health therapies through interactive experiences. Here, we further explore the usefulness of game-based approaches for mental health therapy, particularly coping with the symptoms of anxiety. For this, we co-design a serious game with a psychotherapist using StudyCrafter. Then, we tested our game with 30 participants who frequently experienced anxiety. We used clinically validated testing protocols and anxiety measurement tools (i.e., Randomized Control Trial (RCT) and General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) inventory, respectively) for evaluation. Results showed that participants who played our game reported lowered levels of anxiety compared to participants who did not play the game. We contribute a preliminary understanding of how serious games can be useful in the context of mental health treatment and outline possible future directions.