Study Claims Pokemon GO Can Help With Depression

gamerant.com:

Pokemon GO's launch impacted society in some dramatic ways. Millions of players across the world took the opportunity thatPokemon GO's gameplay offered and began outdoor excursions searching for Pokemon. The result was thatPokemon GO quickly became massively popular. It was so popular, in fact, that some saw an opportunity to conduct a study on what Pokemon GO may have unintentionally accomplished. Specifically, a study is claiming that Pokemon GO's launch may have materially lowered depression.

The study, conducted by Zhi Cheng of the London School of Economics, focused on an interesting metric to reach its conclusion. It parsed depression-related search data across 166 regions in 12 different countries before and after the launch of Pokemon GO, taking into consideration the differing launch dates between regions. Search results included the terms «depression,» «stress,» «anxiety,» and «fatigue.» Two of four of these search terms saw notable decreases following the launch of Pokemon GO.

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More specifically, the study says that consistent decreases in the search interest of both «depression» and «stress» were found. «Anxiety» and «fatigue,» however, the study says did not see an impact on search intensity due to Pokemon GO's release. Based on these results, the study claims that the release of Pokemon GO was associated with a «significant short-term decrease» in depression-related searches, and so that it may have resulted in the decrease in the prevalence of «local rates of depression.»

To be clear, the study says that «like any short-term treatment» the symptoms of depression returned once treatment is abandoned. In that regard, the study