DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Could Help Ease Your Anxiety

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Let’s be real, everyone could use a little help sorting things out sometimes. Taking care of your mental health is huge – it can help with stress, anxiety, and just feeling more at peace. And therapy isn’t always what you picture – a couch and an hour-long session. It can be anything that helps you feel better, like listening to music, a long bath, or even writing in a journal. But here’s something I never expected: apparently, Dungeons & Dragons can be therapeutic too! I was reading an NPR article about how people are actually using the game to work through things like anxiety and PTSD, which is pretty fascinating.

Dungeons & Dragons is a popular fantasy role-playing game known for its exciting adventures and dice rolls. While it’s always been a fun pastime, recent research suggests it can also be therapeutic. Jenny Siler, a speech and language pathologist, has adapted the game to help children with autism and ADHD improve their communication skills.

The article highlights how games can help children develop important skills. For example, kids practicing communication can ‘defeat’ monsters by describing them. And when learning to ask for help – a key social skill – they might even earn an extra turn in the game. This allows children to practice and build confidence in a safe environment before applying these skills in real life.

D&D Therapy Bases Characters On Themselves

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) isn’t just for children; it’s also being used to help adults cope with PTSD. One example is Seth Dellinger, a Marine Corps veteran who participated in a therapeutic D&D game. While it appears to be a game of adventure and fantasy, the real purpose is to address underlying emotional and psychological issues.

Dellinger explains it’s like self-discovery – figuring out your strengths and weaknesses – but framed within the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

This article explores the potential benefits of using Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) in therapy, while also emphasizing the need for a thoughtful approach. Running a game focused on difficult experiences could be too intense for some. To help, a group called Geek Therapeutics has developed a nine-week training course for Dungeon Masters (DMs) to learn how to safely and effectively use D&D as a therapeutic tool. The course is open to both professional therapists and experienced players who want to help others. It makes you wonder if more people would consider therapy if they knew D&D was an option.

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2026-02-23 18:33