Brian Scherzer
03-02-2004, 11:22 AM
I posted the following this morning on the Melancon Forum. I am excited about this kind of video game:
As a psychologist at a large community mental health center, I am involved in a national grant on treating children who have been traumatized. I am currently doing a research project that utilizes thermal biofeedback to teach traumatized kids (usually physically or sexually abused) how to relax, which reduces their anxiety and hyperarousal levels. I was recently made aware of a new video game called "The Wild Divine" that actually uses biofeedback instead of a joystick. There are "leads" that attach to the player's fingers. The person has to reduce heartrate and something called galvanic skin response (gsr) in order to progress in the game. It appears that there are visual and auditory instructions, along with relaxing music in the software. I am about to purchase the game to see how well it works. At a cost of $159, if it works, it sure beats the heck out of the $2000 for the kind of biofeedback gear I use!
So why consider the game? If your stress level tends to be high, you NEED to be able to relax. High stress can lead to heart trouble and a lessening of the body's auto-immune defenses. In terms of music, a person is far more capable of playing when they are relaxed! The website for this game is at:
http://www.wilddivine.com/index.php (http://www.wilddivine.com/index.php)
As a psychologist at a large community mental health center, I am involved in a national grant on treating children who have been traumatized. I am currently doing a research project that utilizes thermal biofeedback to teach traumatized kids (usually physically or sexually abused) how to relax, which reduces their anxiety and hyperarousal levels. I was recently made aware of a new video game called "The Wild Divine" that actually uses biofeedback instead of a joystick. There are "leads" that attach to the player's fingers. The person has to reduce heartrate and something called galvanic skin response (gsr) in order to progress in the game. It appears that there are visual and auditory instructions, along with relaxing music in the software. I am about to purchase the game to see how well it works. At a cost of $159, if it works, it sure beats the heck out of the $2000 for the kind of biofeedback gear I use!
So why consider the game? If your stress level tends to be high, you NEED to be able to relax. High stress can lead to heart trouble and a lessening of the body's auto-immune defenses. In terms of music, a person is far more capable of playing when they are relaxed! The website for this game is at:
http://www.wilddivine.com/index.php (http://www.wilddivine.com/index.php)