U of U Health researchers are ushering in a new era of neurological care. They’ve developed Neuroflex, a video game that improves depression by strengthening brain connections. This technology is being adapted to address other cognitive conditions, from Long COVID-induced brain fog to alcohol dependence.

In video games, virtually anything is possible. Whether it’s strolling across the surface of an undiscovered planet or diving to the depths of an unknown ocean, they give us the chance to live entirely new lives. According to researcher Shizuko Morimoto, PsyD, video games might also be one of the most promising ways to address depression in older adult populations.

“It’s like taking a pill with your eyes,” she says.

Morimoto has worked with geriatric patients since 2007, a group that’s often neglected in studies of depression. And because their symptoms tend to resist treatments that can work for other populations, they also face a significant lack of options for effective care. Even in the best circumstances, only 40% of this population responds to typical treatments.

“It’s noninvasive, and it makes a change. And we’re seeing patients get better.”

Struck by this gap in care, Morimoto left her impressive clinical career to find solutions, and eventually landed at U of U Health, where she began working alongside Roger Altizer, PhD, the founding director of the Therapeutic Games and Apps lab.

Their most successful treatment thus far? A video game called Neuroflex.

Altizer describes the power of his groundbreaking collaboration with Morimoto like this: “She asks questions I wouldn’t ask, and I ask questions she wouldn’t ask. But when we’re together, we ask questions neither of us would ask.” This transdisciplinary synergy has led to one of the first highly efficacious and reliable treatments for depression in older adults—a sudden leap forward for mental health where it has often been overlooked.

“She asks questionsI wouldn’t ask, and I ask questions she wouldn’t ask.”

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Neuroflex is that Morimoto and Altizer designed it so that it can adapt to and treat virtually any cognitive deficit with a brain-related cause. Learning curves and performance evaluations can be used to optimize the game for any population, which means it may be possible to use Neuroflex to treat a vast range of cognitive conditions.

This has already resulted in a profusion of forthcoming applications, including possibilities for addressing brain fog in long COVID patients, and for alleviating alcohol dependence. “All we really need is one new collaborator with expertise in a different population and condition, and suddenly we can adapt this technology to treat them,” Morimoto says. “We could be on the precipice of real change that people
can truly access, a real third pillar of treatment for the brain.”

The generosity of donors like you is allowing older adults with depression a real chance at fighting their symptoms, a chance they never had before now. And that generosity lives on in every new application.