Board Gaming is Good for You!

 In 25 years of trauma, grief, and recovery work, I have learned a lot about what hurts us. And, boy howdy, do we tend to get hurt. A lot. And life starts swinging early.

When I first started studying Adverse Childhood Experiences two decades ago, we knew that childhood trauma was bad. The research into ACEs has since grown immensely, and the impact of childhood trauma has now been proven to reach into every area of our lives. Edcuational achievment, success, income, lifelong happiness, and even our longevity is decreased by childhood trauma. There are few diseases or conditions that are not correlated or made more severe by trauma. It can be a huge bummer to study this stuff. 

Enter resilience. 

In my dissertation, resilience was defined as ones ability to recover and even grow after exposure to trauma. The worst part is that the way traumatized people are often easy targets for further harm, and their behavior often predisposes them to more trauma. Many of us withdraw and hide. This is normal. But it also short circuits are recovery. 

Resilience, it turns out is a robust, powerful, and common response to trauma. And it is much easier to activate than we once thought. Early research indicated that having at least one, close friend, mentor, family member, or confidante, might trigger resilience. Sadly, those who experience trauma are often isolated - by circumstances or by choice. This is unfortunate, but contemporary society may make genuine connection harder than ever. Education and work tend to take us further and further away from our natural support systems. And many never had much support to begin with. 

So we can look for community. And many of us find it in faith communities, online, and with those who share our interests...and hobbies. 

This is where board gaming can come in. These days, even competitive and cooperative board games and RPGs may be played online. The way many parties kept their campaigns going using online meeting software was inspiring to me. And it was something else; healthy. 

Human beings need each other. Pets and books, and music and hobbies help. But we need other people. Our brain cells crave interaction - and they also crave the novelty board games provide. 

I recommend board gaming because it is social, collaborative (even when competitive), and it is tactile. Movement and touch are now understood to be helpful in trauma recovery. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of "The Body Keeps the Score," and developer of complex trauma theory has said that while pharmaceutical therapies are promising, he is betting on social activities that involve coordinatioon and movement. Now, boardgaming is not dancing. But there is movement. And for a lower limb amputee like me, board games are a little safer than West Coast Swing. My prosthetic weighs a lot, and I don't anyone getting hurt. 

So finding a tribe to play games with one or two nights a week can make a big difference on the mental state of a trauma survivor. But what about solo gaming? Does that help as well. 

It turns out that this has been studied for at least 15 years and the answer is...yes. I won't say it is as powerful as gaming with friends or family. But there are definitely benefits to mood, behavior regulation, cognitive function, outlook, and managment of anxiety. Board games are also being evaluated for potential therapeutic benefits. 

After reading several of these studies, I have picked up the idea that there is something to be said about winning little battles...or at least making progress. Improving at a game, even winning against a challenging automata in a solo board game can boost mood. The tactile and cognitive focus needed to play may have long term benefits such as delaying or preventing age-related cognitive decline. Additionally, when we "fight" imaginary monsters on the tabletop, it can make our real life "monsters" feel less powerful. We can beat those demons that try to hold us down. And we don't even need to roll for initiative. 

So get out there and play today. Have some fun. Use your imagination for something other than obsessing over life's problems and fears. Set your eyes on a good game instead of a screen. Dungeon crawling always beats doomscrolling. 

Have a wonderful day, wherever you are. 

Hey! Would you look at that? I rolled a natural 20!

Sending light. love and healing your way. 

-- Dr. Matt