Skip to Content

New to the Mac? Check out TUAW's Mac 101
AOL Games

Crash course in gaming to overcome driving fears


Trauma psychiatrists at St. Stephen’s Hospital in Ireland have begun using video games to help accident victims overcome their "accident phobia." Before you go calling your insurance company to see if they'll cover a new 360 and PGR3 for that fender bender last year, the doctors insist it's not all fun and... well, uh games:

"It’s a structured programme – patients don’t just play video games. It’s cognitive behavioural therapy and it involves gradually exposing people to different types of frightening scenes, starting off in a very easy way and working up gradually.”

If they're working up gradually, I bet Burnout is the last step. Start with Mario Kart, a little 18 Wheeler in there somewhere, and finish with an 8 hour Burnout marathon... crash mode only. If you can run that gamut, you can drive anything.

[Via Way I Play]

Tags: Burnout, Ireland

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Joystiq Features





Featured Galleries

Command & Conquer 4

Command & Conquer 4

Seven Haunted Seas

Seven Haunted Seas

Left 4 Dead 2 cricket bat

Left 4 Dead 2 cricket bat

Halo 3: Citadel, Heretic, Longshore

Halo 3: Citadel, Heretic, Longshore

Lost Planet 2 (7/07/09)

Lost Planet 2 (7/07/09)

Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces

Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces

New Games This Month: July 2009

New Games This Month: July 2009

Grandmaster Flash in DJ Hero (PS3/360/Wii)

Grandmaster Flash in DJ Hero (PS3/360/Wii)

Battlestations: Pacific Mustang and Carrier DLC packs

Battlestations: Pacific Mustang and Carrier DLC packs

 


Joystiq Podcast


New episodes every Friday! Now playing: Joystiq Podcast 01776, for Saturday, July 4.



Archive | RSS | iTunes

Autoblog

Urlesque

Download Squad

Engadget

Massively

Asylum

Wow.com

Engadget HD

Big Download