2018 Games for Change Festival

Mental illness is the costliest medical condition in the United States. In 2018, spending on mental health care is estimated to reach $218 billion, about what we spend on heart conditions and cancer treatment combined. Add in nearly $200 billion in lost productivity and another $500 billion for the opioid epidemic, and we’re looking at a trillion dollar problem. As game designers, we have a very particular set of skills that enables us to tackle this challenge. In this talk, Dr. Kelli Dunlap outlines three strategies for game developers wanting to impact mental health at the individual and societal level.