People who suffer from schizophrenia are not only challenged with psychotic symptoms, they also can have difficulty with memory, information retention and motivation to make improvements. This can lead them to be unable to work or live independently. And currently there are no truly sufficient drug treatment for these patients.
For this reason, researchers at Cambridge have developed a wizard-themed iPad game that is showing some improvement in patients. The game tests what is called episodic memory by asking them to find items in boxes and later remember where they put them.
Twenty-two participants diagnosed with schizophrenia were assigned to either a cognitive training group or a control group at random. Those in the training group played the memory game for a total of eight hours over a four-week period, and those not in the control group continued regular treatment. Following the treatment, they all were tested on episodic memory, levels of enjoyment and motivation. The score was measured on the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. This allows doctors to determine whether or not someone is considered functional when it comes to social, psychological and occupational abilities.
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Professor Barbara Sahakian, from the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and who researched the impact of the game, said patients who played it made significantly fewer errors in tests afterwards on their memory and brain functioning, according to BBC News.
The current drugs that are available to these patients can have significant side effects, but Sahakian told BBC that games take away that risk and appears to actually engage patients to progress in a different way.
“We need a way of treating the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as problems with episodic memory, but slow progress is being made towards developing a drug treatment,” Sahakian said, according to OnMedica. “So this proof-of-concept study is important because it demonstrates that the memory game can help where drugs have so far failed. Because the game is interesting, even those patients with a general lack of motivation are spurred on to continue the training.”
Photo: Flickr user Allan Ajifo
