Pokemon Go Helping People’s Mental Health, Depression

Pokémon Go is a new mobile game app that is based on the popular Pokémon game that was created in 1995. It uses a person’s smartphone camera and GPS to place Pokémon characters in the real world in proximity to the player. In order to earn points, these characters need to be “caught” by the player. Players can see the characters in their real world surroundings by looking at their screen, and use the game to capture the Pokémon character.

Although not even out for a full week, many players have already taken to Twitter and othersocial media to share how Pokémon Go has helped their mental health, mood, social anxiety, and depression.

We already know that exercise helps greatly with depression (along with virtually every other mental health problem), but being motivated to exercise when you’re depressed is a challenge. That’s why an engaging game like Pokémon Go can be helpful.

Pokémon Go does this by encouraging people to get outside, take a walk, talk to others, and explore the world around them. Granted, it’s through their smartphone acting as an interface, but walking is walking, even if the motivation for doing so is to play a game. For a person suffering from depression or another mood disorder, the idea of exercise can be nearly impossible to contemplate, much less do. For someone suffering from social anxiety, the idea of going outside and possibly bumping into others who may want to talk to you is daunting.

Here’s what just a few of the many folks on Twitter have to say about the impact on their mental health that playing Pokémon Go has had: