A new video game was released in Britain that was designed to help people with phobias and mild depression. The game is called Fearfighter and the software is designed to aid people by teaching them new ways to think and react to a variety of situations.
Eventually, all psychiatrists will be replaced by video games. The future will turn out like the future in the Terminator movies with Fearfighter being synonymous for Skynet and instead of a gaggle of cybernetic killing machines, the future will be filled with cybernetic psychiatrists over-criticizing the human race and asking everyone how they feel.
Everyone will say, "Fine" each time they are asked even though they are tired of saying it. Because you know that everyone is too polite to tell the cyborgs to cram it down their servomechanisms.
Anyways, back to writing about a something that is actually going on in the world.
This game is supposed to take a lot of the legwork out of psychiatry. Apparently, treating these phobias involves a lot of repetitive retraining. A computer can do repetitive tasks fairly well. The game is online and there will be trained therapists available if the player finds the game play getting too heavy.
Psychiatric video games can't solve and shouldn't be used to solve the more serious psychiatric problems. For example, It can't solve neo-Luddism or a deep feeling of isolation. There are also plenty of non-ironic illnesses that are unsolvable with this treatment.
It is almost depressing to me that people can get mental help from a machine. I'm not a sadist. I honestly want to see people get healthy; it's kind of my job. Getting mental help from a computer would be like trying to get a hug from Science Officer Spock. It would be cold, frightening and embarrassing. I'll use the internet for something sensible like online dating or sending that poor Nigerian prince my back account number.
Seriously, if the game works like a shoe fits then wear it.
To use to internet to find a doctor instead of using the internet to doctor you, click here.
