Electroconvulsive therapy portrayal in contemporary video games.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an important treatment modality in psychiatry, considered to be the most effective option for pharmaco-resistant affective and psychotic disorders. Despite its great efficacy, it still remains a rather controversial method, which hinders its full potential. It is feasible to say that in part, this controversy is caused by a largely negative image of ECT displayed through media.

Depiction of mental illness and psychiatry in popular video games over the last 20 years.

Video games represent a rapidly growing media form that is a daily activity for many youths. So far, only a little attention has been paid to the portrayal of mental illnesses and psychiatric intervention within them. In our research, we explored the best-selling video games released between 2002-2021 in order to analyse these representations.