18 Chapter 1 may feel better after playing casual games and skills that may relate to improved mental health can also be learned (Ferguson & Olson, 2013; Olson, 2010; R. Pine, Sutcliffe et al., 2020). Casual games can also trigger positive emotions (McGonigal, 2011; Osmanovic & Pecchioni, 2016; Ryan et al., 2006) which, in turn, aid individuals in expanding their momentary thought-action repertoires and personal resources (Fredrickson, 2001; Quinn et al., 2012). There may also be benefits from games that trigger intense (negative) emotions, which may allow the player to practice coping strategies in a safe environment (Granic et al., 2014). In addition, playing casual games may provide distraction from problems and worries, showing beneficial effects on mood (Bowman & Tamborini, 2012; Colder Carras et al., 2018; Pallavicini et al., 2021). Finally, casual games may evoke the experience of flow, intrinsic motivation and basic need satisfaction, which have been linked to mental health benefits as well (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2009; Ryan et al., 2008; Ryan et al., 2006; Sherry, 2004). Indeed, there is growing evidence for the potential of a wide range of casual games to improve emotion regulation (Pallavicini et al., 2018; Villani et al., 2018), general well-being (Halbrook et al., 2019; C. Jones et al., 2014), and alleviate mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and stress (Kowal et al., 2021; Lee et al., 2021; Li et al., 2016; Pallavicini et al., 2021; R. Pine et al., 2020; Russoniello et al., 2009) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (Holmes et al., 2009; E.L. James et al., 2015). In conclusion, both applied and casual games have been researched as a means to address the limitations of traditional intervention programs and to increase reach, uptake and accessibility, appeal and effectiveness of prevention and intervention efforts for mental health. In the past decades, research on games for mental health has grown extensively and the field has been rapidly developing. A comprehensive overview of the field, however, is lacking. Therefore, in Part 1 of this dissertation, we performed a systematic review to provide a state-of-the-art overview of the field. PREDICTORS OF EFFECTIVENESS: NONSPECIFIC FACTORS IN APPLIED GAMES As previously discussed, traditional evidence-based programs in the field of developmental psychopathology are mostly based on CBT, which includes evidence-based therapeutic techniques (Kendall, 2011). These ‘specific’ therapeutic techniques are derived from theories that explain the underlying processes involved in the development and persistence of mental health
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