Let’s Explore the Evolution of Mental Health Portrayal in Games

Mental health has become more widely recognized in media and video games from early games like Psychonauts to recent titles like Hellblade and Omori. We're going to take a look at how this representation has evolved through the years and what developers have been doing to ensure that the games they make can be fun but still tasteful.

TW for the following themes w/ timestamps:
Death of a loved one and illness - 10:17 to 12:45
Body Dysmorphia - 15:11 o 15:45
Disociative Disorders - 15:45 to 16:10
Loss and abandonment - 16:27 to 16:40
alcohol and drug use - 16:38 to 16:45
Psychosis and Schizophrenia - 21:20 to 24:20
Self-hard and S***cide - 26:40 - 31:55

00:00 - Intro
2:03 - Psychonauts
8:23 - Figment
10:05 - That Dragon, Cancer
13:38 - New Wave of Mental Health Games
15:17 - Night in the Woods
16:18 - Life is Strange Before the Storm
19:48 - Celeste
21:20 - Hellblade
24:23 - The Current Direction
26:44 - Omori
32:31 - Figment 2
33:19 - Psychonauts 2
38:10 - Conclusion





Articles Referenced:
Buday et al (2022) - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
Hood (2021) - https://www.techradar.com/news/psycho...
Klin and Lemish (2008) - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18661...
Stuart(2006) - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16478...
Tim Schafer Interview - https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/05/...
Younis and Fedtke (2023) - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1....

Reddit Threads Referenced:
  / why_i_wont_play_hellblade_1_and_2_despite_...  
  / has_anyone_with_psychosis_ever_played_senuas  
  / psychonauts_2_helped_me_heal_from_my_own_t...