PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC TOOLS IN DEALING WITH NEGATIVE PSYCHOEMOTIONAL STATES BY EXAMPLE OF ONLINE GAMES "TETRIS" AND "FARM"

Introduction: The war has exacerbated the negative psycho-emotional states of people living in Ukraine and abroad. Right now, there is an urgent need for quality mental health care. The search for new effective and at the same time simple methods of providing relevant psychological and psychotherapeutic assistance determines the relevance of this research. The aim: To investigate and prove the effectiveness of the dosed daily use of an online game as a psychotherapeutic tool in dealing with the negative psychoemotional states of people living abroad during the war in Ukraine. Materials and Methods: 500 people took part in the experimental research - Ukrainian immigrants in China, the USA, Portugal and Germany – 267 women and 233 men aged 18-35, who were randomly divided into control and experimental groups of 250 each. The research continued for 13 months. Methods: psychological counselling, psychoeducation, dosed daily using online games «Tetris» and «Farm» in the control and experimental groups, respectively. Diagnostic methods: Questionnaire for the detection of psychosomatic disorders, Depression Self-Assessment Scale and Anxiety Self-Assessment Scale. Results: In the primary diagnosis, the following results were obtained: high rates of psychosomatic disorders in 70,8% of the control and 66,7% of the experimental groups; depression in 63,3% of the control and 66,7% of the experimental groups; high rates of anxiety in 66,7% of the control and 70% of the experimental groups. After using the online games «Tetris» and «Farm» in the control and experimental groups, respectively, the following results were obtained: high rates of psychosomatic disorders decreased to 37,5% of people in the control group and 33,3% in the experimental group; 33,3% of people in the control group and 30% in the experimental group have depression; high rates of anxiety were found in 33,3% of people in the control group and 26,7% in the experimental group, which is half as much as the previous indicators. Conclusions: the results of the experimental research suggest that the dosed daily use of the online game «Farm» is an effective psychotherapeutic tool in dealing with negative psycho-emotional states, proven by the authors.