Tsui Tiffany Y L, DeFrance Kalee, Khalid-Khan Sarosh, Granic Isabela, Hollenstein Tom
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
Games Health J. 2021 Oct;10(5):330-338. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2020.0083. Epub 2021 Aug 17.
Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent form of psychopathology among youth. Because demand for treatment far exceeds availability, there is a need for alternative approaches that are accessible, engaging, and incorporate practice to reach as many youth as possible. MindLight is a novel videogame intervention that combines evidence-based anxiety reduction techniques with neurofeedback mechanics that has been shown to reduce anxiety symptoms in youth. This study examined the effectiveness of MindLight compared with online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to replicate and extend those findings by testing the reduction of reactivity to anxiety-eliciting laboratory stressors. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with laboratory assessments at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up. Participants were 117 anxious youth (66.7% female, 33.3% male; age range: 8.05-15.93 years) who were randomized into MindLight ( = 56) and CBT ( = 60) conditions. Both interventions were completed in five 1-hour sessions within a 3-week period. At each time point, anxiety symptoms were assessed through self-report, and state anxiety and anxious arousal were measured during laboratory stress tasks. All measures of anxiety significantly decreased over time in both conditions ( < 0.05). Moreover, youth in the MindLight condition showed greater pre-to-post reductions in anxiety symptoms compared with youth in the CBT condition ( < 0.05). Findings demonstrate that the effects of MindLight and online CBT are not only associated with reductions in anxiety symptoms, but also impact how youth react to laboratory stressors in the moment. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02326545.
焦虑症是青少年中最普遍的精神病理学形式。由于治疗需求远远超过了可及性，因此需要有可供更多青少年使用、引人入胜且包含实践环节的替代方法。MindLight是一种新颖的电子游戏干预手段，它将基于证据的焦虑缓解技术与神经反馈机制相结合，已被证明能减轻青少年的焦虑症状。本研究通过测试对引发焦虑的实验室应激源反应性的降低情况，来检验MindLight与在线认知行为疗法（CBT）相比的有效性，以复制并扩展这些研究结果。进行了一项随机对照试验，在干预前、干预后和3个月随访时进行实验室评估。参与者为117名焦虑青少年（66.7%为女性，33.3%为男性；年龄范围：8.05 - 15.93岁），他们被随机分为MindLight组（n = 56）和CBT组（n = 60）。两种干预均在3周内分五个1小时的时段完成。在每个时间点，通过自我报告评估焦虑症状，并在实验室应激任务期间测量状态焦虑和焦虑唤醒水平。在两种情况下，所有焦虑指标均随时间显著下降（p < 0.05）。此外，与CBT组的青少年相比，MindLight组的青少年在干预前后焦虑症状的减轻幅度更大（p < 0.05）。研究结果表明，MindLight和在线CBT的效果不仅与焦虑症状的减轻有关，还会影响青少年当下对实验室应激源的反应。ClinicalTrials.gov标识符：NCT02326545。
