Doctors May Soon Prescribe Video Games — Seriously
“We are ancient brains living in a modern world.” — Adam Gazzaley from his Tedx Talks speech
The video game industry in 2018 hit an estimated global value of 115 billion dollars. Could this industry be leveraged for more than just entertainment? One neuroscientist believes so and he’s putting together products and the base structure to make it happen. Currently, Phase 3 FDA trials have just been completed on one of his offerings. This particular video game may be approved by the FDA as a treatment to ADHD.
Adam Gazzaley is a neuroscientist and the director of a center called Neuroscape at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Adam spent countless years studying the brain and was very unhappy with the current treatments used to treat various cognitive disorders. Adam mentions the current method to treat illnesses of the mind are through “molecules” or drugs.
These drugs focus on neurotransmitters in the brain instead of on the neurons themselves. In order for a drug to effectively target these spaced out neurotransmitters, high doses of the molecules must be used. Doses in these levels can cause horrible side effects that can be as bad as the illness in certain instances.
