Video games are informative…..
Warning: Parts of this blog contains graphic images and videos. Viewer discretion is advised. For videos, use of headphones is recommended for maximum effect and immersion.
We all have been a part of video games once in our lifetime, be it just watching someone play or actually playing it to experience the immense storyline. But have you paid attention to the small details in video games which just blow your mind and then remain in awe? Well, after playing games, I have noticed some of the games displaying medical conditions or things which happen to human body which are depicted quite accurately.
Starting with, we have “Senua’s Sacrifice(Hellblade)”. This game came into light when a message appears to you while playing which states “if the Rot reaches her brain, its game over”. It took the whole internet on with the fact that what happens if u die? Do you need to start all over again? and many more such questions were asked. None the less, the fact remains, this game depicts elegantly about psychosis.
Psychosis is a medical condition where the person has an impaired relationship with reality. To simply put, psychosis is not an illness itself, but a symptom which indicate underlying mental condition. It can be triggered by extreme stress, physical injury, substance abuse etc. People with psychosis experience hallucinations and delusions.
If you see in the video and listen carefully, you can hear all the voices speaking in the background. All these voices are nothing but a form of hallucination called as auditory hallucination, where a persons hears voices, but cant see where they are coming from, and only he/she can hear those. Such a person may be seen speaking to himself for a long period of time and when asked who is he/she talking to, they might say they are talking to someone who they can’t see, but only hear. Sometimes you can lose touch with reality even when you don’t have a primary psychotic illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. When this happens, it’s called secondary psychosis.
Next up is the Concept of “Butterfly Effect”.
If you have played the PS4’s revolutionary horror/thriller game UNTIL DAWN, you must be aware of the Butterfly effect. Well, to brief you, the main theme of the game is survival on the basis of choices you make, and each choice you make has an outcome which will tell you how the story will progress. This effect is very popular among the psychologists and is a subject of interest in psychology. Nearly 45 years ago, one thought rose in the mind of Edward Lorenz that “will the flap of the wings of butterfly in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”
The purpose of this idea was to evoke a thought process to illustrate that small things initially will lead to a major complex outcome later in future. For instance, initially it may be nothing, its just a butterfly flapping wings, but who knew, later on it will create a tornado which will devastate lives of many! Although it is just a theory, but Sir Isaac Newton suggested similar things in his probabilistic work in the “clockwork universe”. Thus, his simple idea of thought running and evoking become a marvel in psychology and as well as in mathematics. Although it is more famous in the mathematical side as the CHAOS THEORY, its psychological aspect is also important.
The next in the series is a collection of videogames which belong to the post apocalyptic genre. There are various games and series which are included, but those who don’t need any introduction are — The walking dead, world war z, The Last of Us, Dying light, Days gone, etc.
These games are based on “Zombies”. But in real life, there are there are certain conditions which are similar to being a ZOMBIE. Some of them we already know and see commonly. Gangrene is a condition where the blood supply to an organ is reduced and it starts to decay and die.
Although we do not consider gangrene as a “complete zombie” but it does signify that the part is dying. Another condition which is “like” zombie is Lazarus Syndrome. In Lazarus syndrome, the person doesn’t look gruesome as zombies are, but it is a condition where the person comes back to life after being dead, with return of blood circulation even after failed attempt of CPR(Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation).
Another psychological condition is COTARD SYNDROME or DELUSION. A psychological condition in which the person is in delusion that he/she is dying/dead, their internal organs are absent and that he/she is putrefying. In a statistical study of 100 people with delusion, they came to know that 45% of the people believe that they are dying and 55% believe that they are immortal, suggestive of “zombie” like condition of their body. It is to note that “Cotard delusion is not included in the WHO’s DSM(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).”
The people suffering with Cotard delusion present with 3 stages. Stage 1 is the germination stage which has symptoms of psychotic depression. Stage 2 is the blooming stage where there is full emergence of the disease with the denial of survival and negation. Stage 3 is the chronic stage which is characterized by continual delusion, negation and chronic depression. There was once a case reported of Cotard delusion where the woman denied that she is living and later on people experienced that she gave off a “rotting” smell and later on died due to multiple organ damage and gangrene.
Red dead redemption 2 is the masterpiece of work with a playtime of 50+ gaming hours and a world of immersion. Story takes place in the late 1860’s and early 1930’s. A huge timeline of outlanders who are struggling to find their place in this developing country America with many laws implemented to eradicate their existence. Arthur Morgan the protagonist of this game is shown to have Tuberculosis and meets his fate.
During the early times, there were not much medical facilities available, so people used to either use Aspirin for every disease they thought of or were using antibiotics which were available, or were doing blood transfusions because they thought blood is the medium of spread so why not remove it. During the game, you can see Arthur coughing up blood, having rashes on face, bleeding spots on chest, and many such signs which show that he is suffering from TB.
In this video, you can clearly see the changes in Arthur’s face indicating “weight loss” which is another sign of having Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an ACID FAST bacillus bacteria which affects lungs primarily. Although TB can present all over the body with organs infected including Liver, Intestine, Kidney, Brain, Muscles, Bones etc, these are all secondary places.
Classical signs and symptoms of Tuberculosis include night sweating, cough with/without blood persisting for 2 weeks or more, weight loss, loss of appetite, breathing difficulty, weakness, fatigue, fever, etc.
Treatment is long and can vary from 6 months to 18 months depending upon the severity of infection and the resistance of the bacteria.
So, that’s it for today. These were some of the medical related things which I noticed while playing video games. If you also found something, then do let us know on our Instagram page. Do follow us on this page as well as Instagram to keep yourselves updated.
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