Video Games: A Complementary Therapy for Veterans with Serious Mental Illness

Abstract: The National Institute of Mental Health defined serious mental illness (SMI) as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. The literature reveals a knowledge gap about the use of video games as a complementary alternative therapy in treating veterans with SMI. The focus of this paper will discuss and compare research studies and theories on the beneficial use of video games for veterans with SMI. Learning, cognitive, sociological theories, and the symbolic interactionist framework are a few concepts that may guide video gaming. The literature search and findings suggest the VA healthcare system has research entities to support further research and analysis to develop a program geared toward video games as a complementary therapy for veterans with SMI. The purpose of this paper is to call for discussions on the topic of video games as a complementary alternative therapy for veterans with severe mental illness (SMI).