Pokémon Go: Fun Gaming App or an Accidental Treatment?

By Michael Oberschneider

Penicillin was accidentally discovered in 1928 when scientist Alexander Fleming returned to his lab from vacation to notice that a strange fungus growing on a culture had killed off the neighboring bacteria. After WWII, psychiatrist and researcher, Dr. John Cade, also accidentally discovered the extremely positive affects of lithium for mood disturbances that revolutionized the treatment for what we now know as Bipolar Disorder. Some of the other amazing medical discoveries that were found by accident include, Nitrous Oxide, the Pap Smear, the Pace Maker and even Viagra.

Fast-forward to 2016 and the introduction of Pokémon Go, a gaming app that appears to have both entertainment value and inadvertent benefits. Pokémon Go is a mobile game that is played by using your GPS and clock to catch Pokémon in the real world. The game was released last week, and its free to play location based augmented format has had great success -- it is now the number one downloaded app in the United States! The game takes an interactive approach to fun where you can join a team and compete with others but without gratuitous violence. And while hunting and catching Pokémon has been described by many as being entertaining; the game also actually appears to be helping people with their problems.

Occupational therapists, for instance, are claiming that Pokémon Go helps their patients with hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, fine motor cues, impulse control, and social skills. And there are several other on-line postings from individuals who reportedly struggle with depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, panic and autism, and many of these folks are sharing that the game has changed their lives.

As a child psychologist in private practice, I am typically not a big fan of video games inasmuch as I have seen first had, time and time again, the negative impact excessive technology use can have on children and teens -- increased rates of social problems, obesity, ADHD, depression, learning problems and aggression.

But the interactive aspects of Pokémon Go are different because they have the additional benefit of increasing socialization and physical activity for children and teens, which it now appears can paradoxically reduce negative symptoms. In contrast to sitting around and playing a video game in isolation for a long period of time, the teen playing Pokémon Go is active, is outdoors and is likely socializing more than he or she would've been with a traditional video game. Heck, if he's hunting Pokémon at a museum or historical site of some kind, he might even be learning something new.

It's doubtful that the creators of Pokémon Go were thinking about the ways in which their game could help people with their problems, but their game is a surprisingly wonderful response to some of the troubling research findings on video games for children with certain types of conditions. We know from the research, for example, that children with an autistic spectrum disorder, and other conditions (e.g., ADHD), play more video games than children without these conditions. The research in this area has also shown that teens with autism tend to spend more time with technology, but in less social ways than their neurotypical peers.

Within the past week, several parents in my practice have shared their excitement over the gaming app and the positive impact it has already had on their children; specifically, their children are more active and are getting outside more, and their children are challenging themselves to be more social.

One of my teenage clients shared a photo with me on his smart phone of his "new friend" who he met in a park while playing the game. It's my hope to now help my client build a social media network as he meets more and more people in the world playing his new game -- this was not possible as a treatment goal until now.

So maybe Pokémon Gp is not the next penicillin, but its unique gaming platform appears to have the potential to help and to heal those with certain types of problems. It's also not clear whether or not the changes parents and others are already seeing are sustainable, but there is no doubt that the creators of this game have stumbled on to something quite fantastic.

Michael Oberschneider, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice. His new children's book on screen and media time management, "Ollie Outside," is being released next month through Free Spirit Publishing.