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  • Become a psychiatrist

    Become a psychiatrist

    • Choose Psychiatry

      Choose Psychiatry

      • What is psychiatry?
      • How to become a psychiatrist
      • Why choose psychiatry?
      • What next?
      • On a break from training?
      • Choose Psychiatry 2021 video
      • Continuing to choose psychiatry
      • Hear more from the stars of our 2022 film
      • Choose Psychiatry – Guidance for Medical Schools
      • Choose Psychiatry research 2023
    • Sixth formers and school students
    • Medical students

      Medical students

      • Becoming a student associate
      • Psychiatry attachments
      • Awards, prizes and bursaries
      • PsychSocs
      • National Student Psychiatry Conference
      • Summer and autumn schools
      • FuturePsych – the student associate magazine
      • The Student Psychiatry Audit and Research Collaborative (SPARC)
    • Foundation doctors

      Foundation doctors

      • Foundation doctor associates
      • Making the most of your psychiatry placement
      • Opportunities for foundation doctors
      • FuturePsych - the associate magazine
    • Help us promote psychiatry

      Help us promote psychiatry

      • How can I help?
      • Ideas to inspire you
      • Resources to help you promote psychiatry
      • RCPsych Recruitment Strategy 2022-2027
    • Supporting Medical Students: Medical Schools
    • Careers past events
    • Choose Psychiatry
      • What is psychiatry?
      • How to become a psychiatrist
      • Why choose psychiatry?
      • What next?
      • On a break from training?
      • Choose Psychiatry 2021 video
      • Continuing to choose psychiatry
      • Hear more from the stars of our 2022 film
      • Choose Psychiatry – Guidance for Medical Schools
      • Choose Psychiatry research 2023
    • Sixth formers and school students
    • Medical students
      • Becoming a student associate
      • Psychiatry attachments
      • Awards, prizes and bursaries
      • PsychSocs
      • National Student Psychiatry Conference
      • Summer and autumn schools
      • FuturePsych – the student associate magazine
      • The Student Psychiatry Audit and Research Collaborative (SPARC)
    • Foundation doctors
      • Foundation doctor associates
      • Making the most of your psychiatry placement
      • Opportunities for foundation doctors
      • FuturePsych - the associate magazine
    • Help us promote psychiatry
      • How can I help?
      • Ideas to inspire you
      • Resources to help you promote psychiatry
      • RCPsych Recruitment Strategy 2022-2027
    • Supporting Medical Students: Medical Schools
    • Careers past events
  • Training

    Training

    • Exams

      Exams

      • Can I take an exam?
      • Contact the Exams team
      • Preparing for exams
      • Applying for your exam
      • Exam results
      • Special notices
      • Exam FAQs
      • A fair exam
      • Examiners and exam panels recruitment
      • FAQs about applying for exams
      • FAQs about preparing for exams
      • FAQs about the day of the exam
      • FAQs about assessment and results
      • Exams news and updates
    • Curricula and guidance

      Curricula and guidance

      • 2022 Curricula Implementation Hub
      • 2014 GMC approved curricula (ending July 2024)
      • Specialty guides
      • Dual Training
      • Assessment Strategy Review
    • Portfolio Online
    • Your training

      Your training

      • Psychiatric Trainees' Committee: supporting you
      • Time out of training
      • Training resources
      • Run-through training
      • Prizes and bursaries for trainees
      • Training less than full time
      • Routes to Registration
      • Cost of Training
      • Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme
      • Understanding Career Choices in Psychiatry
      • Industrial action FAQs
      • Distribution of medical training posts
    • Medical training initiative (MTI)
    • International Medical Graduates
    • Deanery/LETB Hub
    • Undergraduate education forum
    • Quality Assurance in Training
    • Credentialing
    • CPD eLearning
    • Dean's updates

      Dean's updates

      • Dean's update - 2022
      • Dean's update - March 2023
      • Dean's update - June 2023
    • Neuroscience in training

      Neuroscience in training

      • About the project
      • Neuroscience resources
      • Multimedia learning
    • Building Capacity in Perinatal Psychiatry

      Building Capacity in Perinatal Psychiatry

      • Perinatal 2023 Masterclass Programme application and process details
      • About the Building Capacity Project
    • Exams
      • Can I take an exam?
      • Contact the Exams team
      • Preparing for exams
      • Applying for your exam
      • Exam results
      • Special notices
      • Exam FAQs
      • A fair exam
      • Examiners and exam panels recruitment
      • FAQs about applying for exams
      • FAQs about preparing for exams
      • FAQs about the day of the exam
      • FAQs about assessment and results
      • Exams news and updates
    • Curricula and guidance
      • 2022 Curricula Implementation Hub
      • 2014 GMC approved curricula (ending July 2024)
      • Specialty guides
      • Dual Training
      • Assessment Strategy Review
    • Portfolio Online
    • Your training
      • Psychiatric Trainees' Committee: supporting you
      • Time out of training
      • Training resources
      • Run-through training
      • Prizes and bursaries for trainees
      • Training less than full time
      • Routes to Registration
      • Cost of Training
      • Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme
      • Understanding Career Choices in Psychiatry
      • Industrial action FAQs
      • Distribution of medical training posts
    • Medical training initiative (MTI)
    • International Medical Graduates
    • Deanery/LETB Hub
    • Undergraduate education forum
    • Quality Assurance in Training
    • Credentialing
    • CPD eLearning
    • Dean's updates
      • Dean's update - 2022
      • Dean's update - March 2023
      • Dean's update - June 2023
    • Neuroscience in training
      • About the project
      • Neuroscience resources
      • Multimedia learning
    • Building Capacity in Perinatal Psychiatry
      • Perinatal 2023 Masterclass Programme application and process details
      • About the Building Capacity Project
  • Members

    Members

    • Membership

      Membership

      • Members login
      • Receipts
      • Pay Your Subscription
      • Direct Debit
      • Your subscription
      • Grades of membership
      • Benefits of membership
      • Fellowship and other Honours
      • Applying for Fellowship
      • Nominations for Honorary Fellows
      • Nominations for National Honours
    • Submitting your CPD
    • Workforce Wellbeing Hub

      Workforce Wellbeing Hub

      • Psychiatrists' Support Service
      • How the College supports workforce wellbeing
      • Top 10 tips for wellbeing
      • Mentoring and coaching
      • If a patient dies by suicide
      • If a patient commits homicide
    • Supporting your professional development

      Supporting your professional development

      • New consultants (StartWell)
      • Revalidation
      • Assessing and managing risk of patients causing harm
      • Leadership and management
      • Working less than full time
      • Writing clinic letters
      • If a patient dies by suicide
    • CPD eLearning
    • Your Faculties

      Your Faculties

      • Academic psychiatry
      • Addictions psychiatry
      • Child and adolescent psychiatry
      • Eating disorders psychiatry
      • Forensic psychiatry
      • General adult psychiatry
      • Intellectual disability psychiatry
      • Liaison psychiatry
      • Medical psychotherapy
      • Neuropsychiatry
      • Old age psychiatry
      • Perinatal psychiatry
      • Rehabilitation and social psychiatry
      • Faculty job descriptions
    • Specialty and Specialist Doctors

      Specialty and Specialist Doctors

      • A message from the Chair
      • Who are SAS Doctors?
      • How to enter the SAS grade
      • SAS career development
      • SAS doctors resources
      • College SAS training and events
      • Startwell and Staywell
      • SAS Strategy
    • Devolved Nations

      Devolved Nations

      • RCPsych in Scotland
      • RCPsych in Wales
      • Coleg y Seiciatryddion
      • RCPsych in Northern Ireland
      • Executive Committee job descriptions
    • English Divisions

      English Divisions

      • Eastern
      • London
      • Northern and Yorkshire
      • North West
      • South Eastern
      • South West
      • Trent
      • West Midlands
      • Executive Committee job descriptions
      • NW and NY mentorship
    • International members
    • Special Interest Groups

      Special Interest Groups

      • How to join a SIG
      • Adolescent forensic psychiatry
      • Arts psychiatry
      • Digital psychiatry
      • Evolutionary psychiatry
      • History of psychiatry
      • Neurodevelopmental psychiatry
      • Occupational psychiatry
      • Philosophy
      • Private and independent practice
      • Rainbow SIG
      • Spirituality and Psychiatry 
      • Sport and exercise psychiatry (SEPSIG)
      • Transcultural psychiatry
      • Volunteering and international (VIPSIG)
      • Women and mental health
      • Annual SIG Newsletters
    • Public members list
    • RCPsych Insight magazine

      RCPsych Insight magazine

      • RCPsych Insight Cover Art Exhibition
    • Publications and books
    • Members' eNewsletters
    • Posts for members
    • Jobs board
    • Committees of Council
    • President's lectures

      President's lectures

      • Declaration of competing interests (President's lectures)
      • List of president's lectures competing interests
      • Past President's lectures
    • Retired members
    • eLearning Hub
    • Obituaries

      Obituaries

      • Submit an obituary
      • Remembering Dame Fiona Caldicott
      • Memorial service for Professor Andrew Sims
    • Mindmasters quiz

      Mindmasters quiz

      • Attend Mindmasters 2023
      • Who won in 2022?
      • The rules of the quiz
      • Sample quiz questions 
    • RCPsych ceremonies

      RCPsych ceremonies

      • New Members Ceremonies
      • Fellowship ceremonies
      • Specialist Registration Ceremonies
    • 2021 membership survey
    • Membership
      • Members login
      • Receipts
      • Pay Your Subscription
      • Direct Debit
      • Your subscription
      • Grades of membership
      • Benefits of membership
      • Fellowship and other Honours
      • Applying for Fellowship
      • Nominations for Honorary Fellows
      • Nominations for National Honours
    • Submitting your CPD
    • Workforce Wellbeing Hub
      • Psychiatrists' Support Service
      • How the College supports workforce wellbeing
      • Top 10 tips for wellbeing
      • Mentoring and coaching
      • If a patient dies by suicide
      • If a patient commits homicide
    • Supporting your professional development
      • New consultants (StartWell)
      • Revalidation
      • Assessing and managing risk of patients causing harm
      • Leadership and management
      • Working less than full time
      • Writing clinic letters
      • If a patient dies by suicide
    • CPD eLearning
    • Your Faculties
      • Academic psychiatry
      • Addictions psychiatry
      • Child and adolescent psychiatry
      • Eating disorders psychiatry
      • Forensic psychiatry
      • General adult psychiatry
      • Intellectual disability psychiatry
      • Liaison psychiatry
      • Medical psychotherapy
      • Neuropsychiatry
      • Old age psychiatry
      • Perinatal psychiatry
      • Rehabilitation and social psychiatry
      • Faculty job descriptions
    • Specialty and Specialist Doctors
      • A message from the Chair
      • Who are SAS Doctors?
      • How to enter the SAS grade
      • SAS career development
      • SAS doctors resources
      • College SAS training and events
      • Startwell and Staywell
      • SAS Strategy
    • Devolved Nations
      • RCPsych in Scotland
      • RCPsych in Wales
      • Coleg y Seiciatryddion
      • RCPsych in Northern Ireland
      • Executive Committee job descriptions
    • English Divisions
      • Eastern
      • London
      • Northern and Yorkshire
      • North West
      • South Eastern
      • South West
      • Trent
      • West Midlands
      • Executive Committee job descriptions
      • NW and NY mentorship
    • International members
    • Special Interest Groups
      • How to join a SIG
      • Adolescent forensic psychiatry
      • Arts psychiatry
      • Digital psychiatry
      • Evolutionary psychiatry
      • History of psychiatry
      • Neurodevelopmental psychiatry
      • Occupational psychiatry
      • Philosophy
      • Private and independent practice
      • Rainbow SIG
      • Spirituality and Psychiatry 
      • Sport and exercise psychiatry (SEPSIG)
      • Transcultural psychiatry
      • Volunteering and international (VIPSIG)
      • Women and mental health
      • Annual SIG Newsletters
    • Public members list
    • RCPsych Insight magazine
      • RCPsych Insight Cover Art Exhibition
    • Publications and books
    • Members' eNewsletters
    • Posts for members
    • Jobs board
    • Committees of Council
    • President's lectures
      • Declaration of competing interests (President's lectures)
      • List of president's lectures competing interests
      • Past President's lectures
    • Retired members
    • eLearning Hub
    • Obituaries
      • Submit an obituary
      • Remembering Dame Fiona Caldicott
      • Memorial service for Professor Andrew Sims
    • Mindmasters quiz
      • Attend Mindmasters 2023
      • Who won in 2022?
      • The rules of the quiz
      • Sample quiz questions 
    • RCPsych ceremonies
      • New Members Ceremonies
      • Fellowship ceremonies
      • Specialist Registration Ceremonies
    • 2021 membership survey
  • Events

    Events

    • Conferences and training events

      Conferences and training events

      • Register your interest - CESR in Psychiatry Training
      • MHA Section 12 and Approved Clinician Training
      • Register your interest - Present State Examination Course 2022
      • Subscribe to receive the Events eNews
      • Register your interest - ICD-11 events
      • RCPsych Certification Courses
      • Grand Rounds
    • International Congress 2023

      International Congress 2023

      • Register your interest - Congress 2023 exhibitors
      • Travel and accommodation guidance 
      • Registration
      • Congress 2023 FAQs
      • Poster Presentations 2023
      • Programme
      • Social Media
      • Exhibition opportunities 2023
      • Your guide to Congress
      • Social and Fringe Events
      • Congress 23 Webinar Package
    • International Congress 2024
    • In-house training

      In-house training

      • In house training: working with us
      • Health of Nation Outcome Scales
      • Competing interests
    • Events held by other organisations
    • Free webinars

      Free webinars

      • Free webinars for members
    • Recruitment events
    • Claiming expenses
    • Terms and conditions
    • Speaker guidance for online events
    • Conferences and training events
      • Register your interest - CESR in Psychiatry Training
      • MHA Section 12 and Approved Clinician Training
      • Register your interest - Present State Examination Course 2022
      • Subscribe to receive the Events eNews
      • Register your interest - ICD-11 events
      • RCPsych Certification Courses
      • Grand Rounds
    • International Congress 2023
      • Register your interest - Congress 2023 exhibitors
      • Travel and accommodation guidance 
      • Registration
      • Congress 2023 FAQs
      • Poster Presentations 2023
      • Programme
      • Social Media
      • Exhibition opportunities 2023
      • Your guide to Congress
      • Social and Fringe Events
      • Congress 23 Webinar Package
    • International Congress 2024
    • In-house training
      • In house training: working with us
      • Health of Nation Outcome Scales
      • Competing interests
    • Events held by other organisations
    • Free webinars
      • Free webinars for members
    • Recruitment events
    • Claiming expenses
    • Terms and conditions
    • Speaker guidance for online events
  • Improving care

    Improving care

    • College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI)

      College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI)

      • What we do in the CCQI
      • Quality Networks and Accreditation
      • National Clinical Audits
      • Multi-source feedback
      • CCQI resources
      • CCQI Who we are
      • Research and evaluation
      • CCQI news
    • Campaigning for better mental health policy

      Campaigning for better mental health policy

      • Five Year Forward View
      • Integrated care and mental health
      • Children and young people's mental health Green Paper
      • Cross-government mental health and wellbeing plan 
      • RCPsych in Parliament
      • Join our Research Panel
      • College Reports
      • Position Statements
      • Process for College publications
      • Other policy areas
      • Mental Health Watch
      • Reforming The Mental Health Act
      • Don't overlook mental health campaign
      • The Mental Health Policy Group (MHPG)
    • Planning the psychiatric workforce

      Planning the psychiatric workforce

      • About workforce
      • Job planning and recruitment
      • Our workforce census
      • Campaigning for the mental health workforce of the future
      • Workforce strategy
      • Job description approval process
    • Public Mental Health Implementation Centre

      Public Mental Health Implementation Centre

      • Our partners and first partnership activity 
      • How to work with the Public Mental Health Implementation Centre
      • Who's involved in the Public Mental Health Implementation Centre?
      • Aims and objectives
      • Reports
      • About public mental health
      • PMHIC Parliamentary Launch 
    • National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health

      National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health

      • About NCCMH and our work
      • Clinical guideline development
      • Competence frameworks
      • Quality improvement programmes
      • Reports and research
      • Service design and development
      • Work with us
    • Physician Associates

      Physician Associates

      • About Physician Associates
      • Employing Physician Associates
      • Becoming a Physician Associate
      • Support for Physician Associates
      • Physician Associates network
      • The Competence Framework for Physician Associates in Mental Health
    • Act Against Racism

      Act Against Racism

      • Tackling racism in the workplace
      • Adopt the guidance and join our network
      • Act Against Racism: a toolkit to support the campaign
      • If you're experiencing racism at work
      • Allies: information and signposting
      • FAQs about the campaign
      • Act Against Racism campaign films
    • Sustainability and mental health

      Sustainability and mental health

      • Why is sustainability important?
      • In your community
      • In your practice
      • In your trust
      • Sustainability at RCPsych
      • Nature matters
      • Sustainability scholars
      • Sustainability resources
      • College position on sustainability
      • RCPsych at COP26
      • The eco-crisis and CAMHS
    • Invited Review Service
    • Public Health and its role in mental heath
    • RCPsych Course Accreditation
    • Using quality improvement
    • Net Zero Mental Health Care Research, Resources and Education
    • Mental Health Awareness Week
    • College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI)
      • What we do in the CCQI
      • Quality Networks and Accreditation
      • National Clinical Audits
      • Multi-source feedback
      • CCQI resources
      • CCQI Who we are
      • Research and evaluation
      • CCQI news
    • Campaigning for better mental health policy
      • Five Year Forward View
      • Integrated care and mental health
      • Children and young people's mental health Green Paper
      • Cross-government mental health and wellbeing plan 
      • RCPsych in Parliament
      • Join our Research Panel
      • College Reports
      • Position Statements
      • Process for College publications
      • Other policy areas
      • Mental Health Watch
      • Reforming The Mental Health Act
      • Don't overlook mental health campaign
      • The Mental Health Policy Group (MHPG)
    • Planning the psychiatric workforce
      • About workforce
      • Job planning and recruitment
      • Our workforce census
      • Campaigning for the mental health workforce of the future
      • Workforce strategy
      • Job description approval process
    • Public Mental Health Implementation Centre
      • Our partners and first partnership activity 
      • How to work with the Public Mental Health Implementation Centre
      • Who's involved in the Public Mental Health Implementation Centre?
      • Aims and objectives
      • Reports
      • About public mental health
      • PMHIC Parliamentary Launch 
    • National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health
      • About NCCMH and our work
      • Clinical guideline development
      • Competence frameworks
      • Quality improvement programmes
      • Reports and research
      • Service design and development
      • Work with us
    • Physician Associates
      • About Physician Associates
      • Employing Physician Associates
      • Becoming a Physician Associate
      • Support for Physician Associates
      • Physician Associates network
      • The Competence Framework for Physician Associates in Mental Health
    • Act Against Racism
      • Tackling racism in the workplace
      • Adopt the guidance and join our network
      • Act Against Racism: a toolkit to support the campaign
      • If you're experiencing racism at work
      • Allies: information and signposting
      • FAQs about the campaign
      • Act Against Racism campaign films
    • Sustainability and mental health
      • Why is sustainability important?
      • In your community
      • In your practice
      • In your trust
      • Sustainability at RCPsych
      • Nature matters
      • Sustainability scholars
      • Sustainability resources
      • College position on sustainability
      • RCPsych at COP26
      • The eco-crisis and CAMHS
    • Invited Review Service
    • Public Health and its role in mental heath
    • RCPsych Course Accreditation
    • Using quality improvement
    • Net Zero Mental Health Care Research, Resources and Education
    • Mental Health Awareness Week
  • Mental health

    Mental health

    • Mental illnesses and mental health problems

      Mental illnesses and mental health problems

      • ADHD in adults
      • Alcohol and depression
      • Alcohol and older people
      • Anorexia and bulimia
      • Anxiety and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
      • Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)
      • Bereavement
      • Bipolar disorder
      • Cannabis
      • Catatonia
      • Club drugs
      • Cocaine dependence
      • Coping after a traumatic event
      • Debt and mental health
      • Delirium
      • Depression
      • Depression in older adults
      • Feeling overwhelmed
      • Gambling disorder
      • Heroin dependence
      • Hoarding
      • Learning disabilities
      • Medically unexplained symptoms
      • Memory problems and dementia
      • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
      • Perinatal OCD
      • Perinatal OCD for carers
      • Personality disorder
      • Physical illness and mental health
      • Postnatal depression
      • Postnatal depression key facts
      • Postnatal depression: information for carers
      • Postpartum psychosis
      • Postpartum Psychosis in Carers
      • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 
      • Schizoaffective disorder
      • Schizophrenia
      • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
      • Self-harm
      • Shyness and social phobia
      • Sleeping well
    • Support, care and treatment

      Support, care and treatment

      • Alzheimers drug treatments
      • Antidepressants
      • Antipsychotics
      • Antipsychotics in pregnancy
      • Being sectioned
      • Benefits, financial support and debt advice
      • Benzodiazepines
      • Caring for someone with a mental illness
      • Children's social services and safeguarding
      • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
      • Complementary and alternative medicines: herbal remedies
      • Complementary and alternative medicines: physical treatments
      • Depot medication
      • Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
      • Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
      • Guide to mental health tribunals
      • Hypnosis and hypnotherapy
      • Liaison psychiatry services
      • Lithium in pregnancy and breastfeeding
      • Mental capacity and the law
      • Mental health in pregnancy
      • Mental health rehabilitation services
      • Mental health services and teams in the community
      • Mother and baby units (MBUs)
      • Neuromodulation
      • Perinatal mental health services: what are they?
      • Planning a pregnancy
      • Psychotherapies and psychological treatments
      • Social prescribing
      • Spirituality and mental health
      • Stopping antidepressants
      • Valproate in women and girls who could get pregnant
      • What to expect of your psychiatrist in the UK
      • COVID-19: for patients and carers
      • Veterans' mental health
    • Young people's mental health

      Young people's mental health

      • Bipolar disorder for young people
      • Cannabis and mental health: for young people
      • Club drugs
      • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for young people
      • Coping with stress for young people
      • Depression in children and young people
      • Drugs and alcohol for young people
      • Eco distress: for young people
      • Physical activity, exercise and mental health for young people
      • OCD for young people
      • Psychosis in young people
      • Schizophrenia: for young people
      • When a parent has a mental illness
      • When bad things happen
      • Who is who in CAMHS?: for parents, teachers, young people and carers
      • Anxiety: for young people
      • Weight, exercise and eating disorders in young people
      • Preparing for a blood test or vaccine for young people
      • Use of digital media for young people
    • Translations

      Translations

      • Arabic عربى
      • Bengali বাঙালি
      • Chinese 中文
      • French Français
      • German Deutsch
      • Greek Ελληνική
      • Gujurati ગુજરાતી
      • Hindi हिंदीहिंदी
      • Italian Italiano
      • Japanese 日本語
      • Kurdish Kurdî
      • Lithuanian Lietuvių kalba
      • Pashto پښتو
      • Persian (Farsi) فارسی
      • Polish Polski
      • Portuguese (Brazil) Português (Brasil)
      • Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
      • Romanian Română
      • Russian Pусский
      • Sindhi سنڌي
      • Somali
      • Spanish Español
      • Swahili Kiswahili
      • Tamil தமிழ்
      • Turkish
      • Ukrainian украї́нська
      • Urdu اردو
      • Welsh Cymraeg
    • Order mental health resources

      Order mental health resources

      • Order mental health packs for schools
    • About our mental health information
    • Mental health information disclaimer
    • Mental health and psychiatry FAQs
    • Mental illnesses and mental health problems
      • ADHD in adults
      • Alcohol and depression
      • Alcohol and older people
      • Anorexia and bulimia
      • Anxiety and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
      • Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)
      • Bereavement
      • Bipolar disorder
      • Cannabis
      • Catatonia
      • Club drugs
      • Cocaine dependence
      • Coping after a traumatic event
      • Debt and mental health
      • Delirium
      • Depression
      • Depression in older adults
      • Feeling overwhelmed
      • Gambling disorder
      • Heroin dependence
      • Hoarding
      • Learning disabilities
      • Medically unexplained symptoms
      • Memory problems and dementia
      • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
      • Perinatal OCD
      • Perinatal OCD for carers
      • Personality disorder
      • Physical illness and mental health
      • Postnatal depression
      • Postnatal depression key facts
      • Postnatal depression: information for carers
      • Postpartum psychosis
      • Postpartum Psychosis in Carers
      • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 
      • Schizoaffective disorder
      • Schizophrenia
      • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
      • Self-harm
      • Shyness and social phobia
      • Sleeping well
    • Support, care and treatment
      • Alzheimers drug treatments
      • Antidepressants
      • Antipsychotics
      • Antipsychotics in pregnancy
      • Being sectioned
      • Benefits, financial support and debt advice
      • Benzodiazepines
      • Caring for someone with a mental illness
      • Children's social services and safeguarding
      • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
      • Complementary and alternative medicines: herbal remedies
      • Complementary and alternative medicines: physical treatments
      • Depot medication
      • Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
      • Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
      • Guide to mental health tribunals
      • Hypnosis and hypnotherapy
      • Liaison psychiatry services
      • Lithium in pregnancy and breastfeeding
      • Mental capacity and the law
      • Mental health in pregnancy
      • Mental health rehabilitation services
      • Mental health services and teams in the community
      • Mother and baby units (MBUs)
      • Neuromodulation
      • Perinatal mental health services: what are they?
      • Planning a pregnancy
      • Psychotherapies and psychological treatments
      • Social prescribing
      • Spirituality and mental health
      • Stopping antidepressants
      • Valproate in women and girls who could get pregnant
      • What to expect of your psychiatrist in the UK
      • COVID-19: for patients and carers
      • Veterans' mental health
    • Young people's mental health
      • Bipolar disorder for young people
      • Cannabis and mental health: for young people
      • Club drugs
      • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for young people
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This War of Mine – a game about the traumas of war

Cultural blog, Gaming the mind

02 January, 2018

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Here at Gaming the Mind we particularly appreciate originality in games, both in form and content. A firm favourite is Life is Strange, with its rewind mechanic that allows experimentation with social communication within a world that is admittedly 'strange', but also in many ways familiar and ordinary.

Some games, however, provoke emotions and reflections that allow us to empathise with people experiencing lives that are very different from our own. If this sounds a bit far-fetched, try out the decision-making mechanic in Papers, Please, where your family's life and the lives of refugees are hanging on the choices you make. Or try surviving the long days of This War of Mine, a game about staying alive in a war zone as a civilian.

This War of Mine is about choices, prioritisation and risk taking. It's about luck, discipline and planning, and it's about not giving up. Now, if this sounds serious and not particularly fun, well that's just how it's supposed to be. The game is bleak; it fills you with hopelessness and is deeply depressing.

Not the hero

In this game about war, you're not the omnipotent hero; you're the little person getting rained down upon. I'm not going to say it's realistic, because thankfully I've never experienced war, but it's a simulation of an experience that many civilians in war zones endure. And it gets you in ways that a film couldn't, because you're actively involved in creating the story and the outcome.

11 bit studios, who made the game, drew influence from the 1992 Siege of Sarajevo, which lasted 1,425 days and led to 5,434 civilian deaths. They used first-person accounts from the FAMA Collection, a media project that collected oral histories from people caught up in the conflict in former Yugoslavia, to create a realistic game world with real-life challenges.

This attention to authenticity, both within the narrative and the gameplay itself, avoids what has become known as 'ludonarrative dissonance' – a critique particularly aimed at war games that attempt to portray a moralistic view of the horrors of war whilst ironically rewarding senseless violence.

As the player, you look into the cross-section of a bombed-out house, with its dark basement, bare kitchen, rubble-strewn upper floors and broken roof. You direct three characters by clicking on objects to interact with, such as a cooker, a fridge or a bed.

After scavenging for resources, you can build things that help your characters survive: a water filter; a radio; a weapon. In this game, you can kill and be killed, and there are no extra lives. This is no obscene undead pre-oedipal fantasy, as Slavoj Žižek likes to call the immortality mechanic in video games. When your character, who has a name, a face and a personality, dies, she's not coming back. This game is about loss.

War is hell; hell is other people. You'll find that you need the help of others to survive this game. You'll need to learn to barter with the random strangers who come to your door unannounced and you'll need to learn to exploit your team members' strengths and keep them strong, through cooking and sleeping and guile.

The game offers you the chance to play with a total of 12 different groups of characters, with each group having different stories, starting environments and resources. This leads to interesting variations in tactics and choices. Each night, you get the opportunity to assign your team members roles such as being a lookout for raiders, a scavenger in the local area or the person who gets some precious sleep.

The scavenger missions involve directing your character around unfamiliar buildings filled with dark spaces, bounty, and strangers who are often homicidally unpleased to see you. You might assign the most physically strong or fast character to venture into the night, but even they require regular food, rest, and, if injured, medical assistance.

Constant threat and fear

Mental health themes run throughout this game, as you would expect from a game about war trauma. Loss is certainly a feature, as are constant threat and fear.

The game is clearly trying to give the player the experience of living in an extreme environment where bad things can happen on a daily basis and where you have very little control over your life. A lot seems down to luck and the game is often deeply unfair and mean. Some characters show incredible levels of resilience whereas others don't.

Characters have moods which respond to various factors; for example, their mood will deteriorate as they become involved in, or are exposed to, traumatic events, witness suffering and death, or endure hardships such as hunger, illness or injury.

Eventually a character can become depressed, and unable to engage in daily activities; even those that aid self-preservation. It is possible that characters may end their own lives if they remain in a severely depressed state.

However, their mood can recover through actions such as engaging in good deeds, eating well, sleeping well, and having access to entertainment. Importantly, characters can console each other to help improve mood, which highlights the importance of reaching out to others when in need. A custom psychologist character is especially skilled at consoling others, sending a clear message about the importance of seeking the attention of mental health services when unwell.

Of course, this presents a basic view of depression and recovery. Consoling is depicted as simple conversations between characters, with phrases such as 'I'm here for you, if you need me'. It seems logical that in this crisis scenario, things such as food and sleep could reduce stress, but depression and post-traumatic stress can often present with sleep difficulty and loss of appetite, so presenting these activities as generalisable solutions to low mood or trauma in all contexts would be overly simplistic and narrow.

However, if taken as encouragement for players to engage in self-care, and to seek help when needed, the game's message rings true for our daily lives. If the game teaches us one thing, it's that to survive we depend on mutual aid and cooperation.

As I write this, a number of cities and towns remain under siege and at war. This game is important because it makes it that bit harder to forget what war does to people.

This War of Mine is available for Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS, PS4 and Xbox One .

Authored by Stephen Kaar

Blog Author
Gaming the mind team

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