Depression Simulator

[cara susanna]

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Hi all,

Thought you might be interested in this. Some people made a depression simulator/choose-your-own-adventure game. I've played it through a few times and it seems pretty accurate to me, and all of the people on Reddit who are struggling with depression claim that it's extremely accurate. It's supposed to provide insight to non-depressed people about what depression is like (including the total loss of energy and motivation) and why a depressed person can't just "get over it." I'm definitely going to show it to my abnormal psych class when we cover mood disorders.

Reddit thread discussing simulator - http://www.reddit.com/r/psychology/comments/18lhze/a_depression_simulator_chooseyourownadventure/

Simulator - http://www.beesgo.biz/dq/DQfinal.html

My first time was really bad--I made myself so profoundly depressed that I didn't even have the energy or motivation to go see a therapist. My second time through was better, I improved somewhat thanks to CBT. 🙂

 

[psychsquirrel]

Super cool! Thanks for sharing 🙂

 

[BorntoRun]

Agreed, pretty neat. (And a potentially useful sad mood induction that I may tuck away for the future...)

 

[cara susanna]

Haha, I can see that.

 

[ResearchGirlie]

Agreed, pretty neat. (And a potentially useful sad mood induction that I may tuck away for the future...)

The would be interesting! I'm not sure if our IRB would let us use that strong of a sad mood induction.

 

[cara susanna]

Jeez, you think it's that bad? Maybe I shouldn't have given my class the link! I did tell them it was optional viewing and warn them of potential discomfort, though.

 

[ResearchGirlie]

I don't think it's that bad but our IRB is out of control. Just reading some of the reddit comments about how triggering it was makes me think our IRB wouldn't be so happy. I wouldn't worry about it!

 

[cara susanna]

I'm reading the thread--apparently other people got a lot worse endings than I did my first time around! I didn't know you could have your relationship with Alex end. What's funny is I was trying to play it using the idea of behavioral activation (making the character get out and do stuff), but it just made him exhausted.

Someone's ending even sounds like the character started abusing alcohol. Now I'm super curious to play again, although I think having such terrible stuff happen would negatively impact my mood.

 

[NeuroTrope]

This actually made me kind of depressed. Effective!

 

[MBellows]

What's funny is I was trying to play it using the idea of behavioral activation (making the character get out and do stuff), but it just made him exhausted..

I used MBCBT as a guide. Pretty straightforward way to "win."

 

[cara susanna]

I couldn't find any options related to accepting and letting go of your depressogenic thoughts 😉

 

[MBellows]

I couldn't find any options related to accepting and letting go of your depressogenic thoughts 😉

They had options related to acknowledging the way that you feel, being honest with yourself and others about the way that you feel, and making conscious but compassionate choices in behaviors to move beyond those feelings. =P

 

[cara susanna]

Very interesting, thanks. Another victory for mindfulness 🙂

 

[CourageToGrow]

The link is 404'd?

 

[cara susanna]

I just tried it and it worked, so maybe it was briefly down?

 

[phillydave]

This is really great. I'll definitely be sharing this. Thanks Cara

 

[KillerDiller]

I'm curious, what are people's thoughts about passing this along to clients? Of course, depressed clients don't need a depression simulator, but it seems like it would be helpful for them to have to show others what their experience is like.

 

[MBellows]

I'm curious, what are people's thoughts about passing this along to clients? Of course, depressed clients don't need a depression simulator, but it seems like it would be helpful for them to have to show others what their experience is like.

I think the Reddit subhead on the topic sheds some light about it probably not being the best thing for people who are depressed.

 

[cara susanna]

Yeah, it really is a "best case scenario" for depression because the main character has a job, a girlfriend, friends, and family who are close by. I do like the idea of providing it to friends or family of clients for psychoeducation.