Games to Support PTSD Treatment & Adherence

The Challenge

There are proven, evidence-based ways to treat PTSD.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), exposure-based techniques, grounding exercises, journaling, social connection, and structured routines all help. We know these things work, when patients actually do them.

That's the problem.

Across PTSD treatment:

• Adherence is hard
• Participation drops over time
• Exercises feel emotionally demanding
• Progress can feel slow or invisible
• Therapy doesn't always scale beyond the clinic

Many patients disengage, not because the methods don't help, but because they're hard to return to, hard to sustain, and hard to integrate into daily life.

This is a design problem, not a clinical one.

What We're Trying to Improve

This challenge focuses on engagement and adherence, not diagnosis.

Games might help patients:

• Practice grounding or regulation exercises more consistently
• Re-engage with therapeutic activities between sessions
• Feel less alone while doing difficult work
• Experience progress as visible and motivating
• Participate safely at their own pace

The goal is to support, not replace, clinical care.

Core Design Directions

1. Making Difficult Practices Easier to Return To

Design systems that:

• Lower the barrier to starting an exercise
• Encourage short, repeatable engagement
• Reward effort, not outcomes
• Normalize lapses and re-engagement

Examples:

• Gentle progression systems
• Daily or weekly "check-ins"
• Visual representations of consistency
• Non-punitive streaks or milestones

2. Turning Therapeutic Work Into Meaningful Play

Explore how gameplay can:

• Reframe exercises as challenges, journeys, or care-taking
• Replace abstract progress with visible growth
• Use metaphor instead of direct clinical framing
• Allow choice and control over pace and intensity

This is about approachability, not distraction.

3. Supporting Social Elements, Safely and at Scale

Some PTSD-support practices are social:

• Sharing experiences
• Feeling witnessed
• Helping others
• Rebuilding trust gradually

Can game design make this work:

• Asynchronously?
• Remotely?
• Without forcing real-time interaction?

Possible directions:

• Shared worlds with indirect collaboration
• Contribution without direct conversation
• Parallel progress toward shared goals
• Opt-in visibility rather than mandatory interaction

Jam Scope & Expectations

• Focus on one therapeutic support behavior
• Simple systems > complex narratives
• Mock clinical workflows are fine
• Visual metaphor is encouraged
• Emotional tone matters more than polish

You are designing adjacent to therapy, not inside it.

Extra Points For...

• Designs that clearly improve adherence or re-engagement
• Thoughtful handling of emotional difficulty
• Systems that scale beyond one-on-one therapy
• Approaches that feel humane, calm, and respectful