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1-Page Summary of Superbetter
Overview
Computer games are a big part of our lives. People have always played them, but now we play more than ever because they’re so much easier to access and there’s more variety. Games make us feel good and that is why people like playing them.
You might think of games simply as a way to relax or have fun. But there’s more to it than that. Introducing gaming into your life can improve cognitive skills, help you overcome prejudices and propel toward your goals. In short, they can make you super better.
In this article, you’ll learn why throwing snowballs can relieve pain, how games improve social skills and what you can learn from the video game Zelda.
Big Idea #1: SuperBetter is a game that helps you overcome challenges and grow stronger as a person.
Have you heard of SuperBetter? It’s a game created by the author, who came up with the idea while recovering from a brain injury. During her recovery, she realized that she didn’t just want to get better; she wanted to be even better than before her injury – superbetter! So she created a game to help her get there.
Games can be fun and exciting, especially when they give us a chance to overcome challenges. They can even help alleviate stress and interpersonal problems! SuperBetter is an app that helps you deal with serious problems by using post-traumatic growth (PTG) and post-ecstatic growth (PE).
Trauma does not always lead to long-term emotional or mental problems. In fact, trauma can usher in a life that’s happier and more fulfilling than the one you had before! This is how post-traumatic growth works. You don’t need trauma to experience personal growth, however. If you overcome challenges you set for yourself, such as running a marathon or quitting smoking, you can undergo post-ecstatic growth.
Post-traumatic growth and post-ecstatic growth are positive developments that people experience during difficult times. The seven steps outlined in the SuperBetter method will help you build physical resilience, mental resilience, emotional resilience and social resilience. Read on to find out more about these terms – and why games like SuperBetter can help you build them!
Big Idea #2: Games can lessen pain and help you overcome trauma.
On average, over one billion people spend at least an hour a day playing video games.
Games can relieve physical pain and help people overcome trauma.
A study found that burn victims who played a virtual reality game called Snow World felt less pain. The game is about an ice cave world where the player throws snowballs at penguins. It was discovered that playing this game made patients feel as if they were in a different place, which helped them to relax and not focus on their burning injuries.
Games like Snow World have the effect of controlling a person’s attention spotlight. Generally, your brain is being bombarded with signals all the time. Pain is one of those strong signals that you notice most often. However, if you direct your brain to focus on something else—like playing a game like Snow World—the impact of other signals lessens.
Another study found that playing Tetris for ten minutes after a traumatic event can reduce flashbacks. If you play Tetris six hours after a serious car accident, or some other traumatic event, your flashbacks will be less frequent and vivid.
When we play games, we don’t just give them our attention. We pay a special kind of attention to those games called flow, which is the state of being completely absorbed in an activity. Flow isn’t about distraction; it’s about engagement. So leisure activities like watching TV aren’t considered flow-inducing because they’re not challenging and interactive enough for us to have control over what we’re thinking and feeling.
