Video Game Designed To Treat ADHD May Become First FDA Approved Prescription Video Game

A video game being developed by Akili Interactive Labs to help treat ADHD just met its first study goal in a quest to become the first FDA approved prescription video game, despite the fact I’ve been successfully using video games to treat just about everything wrong with me for forever. A bunch of stuff I didn’t read because I got distracted:

In a study of 348 children between the ages of 8 and 12 diagnosed with ADHD, those who played Akili’s action-packed game on a tablet over four weeks saw statistically significant improvements on metrics of attention and inhibitory control, compared to children who were given a different action-driven video game designed as a placebo. The company plans next year to file for approval with the Food and Drug Administration.

“We are directly targeting the key neurological pathways that control attention and impulsivity,” said Akili CEO Eddie Martucci. The study “was meant to be a strong objective test to ask: Is it the targeting we do in the brain or is it general engagement with a treatment that’s exciting and interesting … that actually leads to these targeted effects? And so I think we clearly see that it’s the targeted algorithms that we have.”

Interesting. Verrrrrrry interesting. “You didn’t read it.” I barely have the attention span to wake up in the morning, I can’t read paragraphs about stuff I don’t understand. Now, if someone could just develop a prescription video game to battle general unattractiveness and obesity, I could game my way to a hot date. “It would take an overdose.” I’ll take my chances.

Thanks to Thaylor H, who agrees video games can cure anything.