Tabletop therapy: How Dungeons & Dragons can improve mental health
Tabletop therapy: How Dungeons & Dragons can improve mental health
Tabletop therapy: How Dungeons & Dragons can improve mental health
By Claire Goudreau
December 4, 2023
Summary
For the uninitiated, Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop role-playing game in which players roll dice to improvise a fantastical adventure.
According to Nation, this "Distance" can be extremely useful in a therapy setting, since players can explore real-life problems without the potential discomforts of a one-on-one counseling session.
A typical D&D session with Mental Health Services follows the same two-hour formula: First, 60 to 90 minutes are spent playing the game.
After the monsters are slain and the adventurers are resting around a campfire, the players take a step back to reflect on the session and how it relates to their own lives.
"You can test the waters with other players to see how they react to an action or dialogue, and see what kind of response you might elicit with your friends and colleagues ," explained one student, who asked to remain anonymous.
Most of Nation's players had little to no D&D experience before joining his therapy group.
"You can teach someone to play Dungeons & Dragons pretty effectively in sub-20 minutes," he explained.
Reference
Goudreau, C. (2023, December 4). Tabletop therapy: How dungeons & dragons can improve mental health. The Hub. https://hub.jhu.edu/2023/12/04/dungeons-and-dragons-therapy-group/