It's to the best of our knowledge. I'm Anne Strangeamps. What if you could play your way to being happier?

It was the summer of 2009, and I was in the middle of writing my first book, which was all about

the psychology of games, and I actually hit my head and got a concussion.

This is game designer Jane McGonicle.

I was kind of laid up in bed for a few months.

Headaches, nausea, I couldn't think clearly.

And on top of all of that, I got severely depressed.

I actually, you know, started feeling suicidal. And, you know, at kind of at my lowest

point, I decided to try to design a game that would help me get better. The game was called

Super Better. And it did actually help Jane get better. But more than that, it's helped

thousands of other people recover from depression,

anxiety, all kinds of challenges. Now the NIH is testing it, and Jane's just come out with a book about it.

So, a game for mental health? How would that work exactly?

Okay, so first of all, you identify the challenge.

Okay, well, for me, it kind of takes me a while to get going in the mornings.

So I guess I wish I could start the day in a happier mood.

So the next thing you would do is when we'd sort of think about secret identities.

Who are heroic personas that you feel like embody the characteristics or the strengths

that you're trying to develop?

Secret identity.

Okay, I guess for me that would be something like Super Morning Girl.

Okay, so Super Morning Girl.

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