Hispanics and Mental Health: Gaming as a Pathway to Self-Care

What You’ll Learn:

Mental Health Stigma and Underdiagnosis in Hispanic Communities: Despite high rates of depression and anxiety among Hispanics, these conditions are often underdiagnosed and undertreated due to cultural stigma. Many in the community view mental health issues as a sign of moral weakness or something not relevant to Hispanics, which contributes to lower rates of seeking treatment.

The Therapeutic Potential of Gaming: Gaming offers a unique and culturally relevant opportunity to engage Hispanics in mental health self-care. As a popular pastime among Hispanics, gaming can serve as a gateway to therapeutic interventions, providing an accessible, engaging, and non-stigmatizing platform for addressing mental health issues like anxiety and depression.

Culturally Competent Digital Therapeutics: To maximize the effectiveness of gaming as a mental health tool, it is crucial to address the lack of Hispanic representation in games. Developing digital therapeutics that are culturally responsive—designed specifically with Hispanic identities, values, and experiences in mind—could significantly enhance engagement and therapeutic outcomes for Hispanic gamers.

Self-care is not self-ish

Even a brief overview of the landscape of Hispanics and depression reveals a disturbing reality that demands action. In spite of evidence suggesting that rates of depression among Hispanic individuals are equal or higher compared to non-Hispanics, actual diagnosis and treatment rates remain lower. Rates of treatment for depression are lower in Hispanic communities versus any other racial/ethnic group, and when treated, Hispanics have lower frequency of both prescription drug treatment and counseling. Nearly one in five individuals in the U.S. today identifies as Hispanic (19.5% of the total population), so mental health inequities within this community have significant societal repercussions.

The causes and triggers for depression and anxiety run deep in the Hispanic community. For those born outside the U.S., who come from very collectivist Latin American cultures, the trauma of immigration, being uprooted from their home and culture and loved ones, and adapting to the highly individualistic culture of the U.S. can have lasting psychological consequences. For U.S.-born Latinos, the transmission of intergenerational trauma, the persistence of bias and discrimination, and the escalation of anti-Hispanic sentiment in recent years can have profound effects on emotional well-being.

Despite that, depression and anxiety disorders of Hispanics in the U.S. have long been underdiagnosed and undertreated. Stigma within Hispanic culture around mental health healthcare has often been identified as the underlying cause for this, and in the proprietary Hispanic health research Klick published in 2022 (1), we saw ample evidence of the belief that mental health issues are a sign of moral weakness.

Another way to characterize mental health stigma within the Hispanic community is “cultural denial” (2) —the belief that mental health is something invented by non-Hispanic white people that isn’t real and that certainly doesn’t apply to Hispanics. This kind of stigma exists at the community level and the family level and then is internalized by individuals, so much so that they often don’t seek out help for their depression until the situation becomes dire. The prevailing ethos is to be strong, stoic, and to just get through it. While younger Latinos, particularly Gen Zers, are more likely to embrace the idea of mental health care, change is slow. Access issues and the dearth of culturally competent care exacerbate the issue.

What if there were an easily accessible pastime that Latinos were absolutely passionate about that could be deployed to support those experiencing depression and anxiety?

The therapeutic potential of gaming

The landscape of gaming as a therapeutic tool for mental health is in its infancy, but it is rapidly evolving, with digital therapeutics and gamified interventions gaining recognition for their potential to engage and reach users in ways traditional treatments might not. In 2020, the FDA approved its first-ever game-based therapeutic, EndeavorRx, indicated to improve symptoms of ADHD (FDA 2020). That same year, the FDA launched the Digital Health Center of Excellence to help accelerate and support the responsible advancement of digital health technology innovation (FDA 2020).

Early evidence in digital therapeutics suggests that digital health interventions may help reduce symptoms of mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression (APA 2024), with some specifically examining the benefits of games in improving symptoms (Pallavicini 2021), (Kowal 2021), (Ruiz 2022), (Eckardt 2024).

There are even explorations of embedding assessments within games, smartphones, and virtual environments to potentially help monitor symptoms (Clay 2019).

The American Psychological Association also sees the potential for increasing accessibility for mental health care and addressing health disparities with the availability of solutions developed using a multi-level, digital-health equity framework (APA 2024). It’s a solution we can’t ignore, as indicated by the FDA’s 2020 EndeavorRx approval and the scientific evidence.

At Klick, we’ve invested in gaming and its application in healthcare. Since investing in this modality, we’ve been conducting multiple experiments into the relationship between gaming and health-related outcomes. Some of our work includes developing modifications to existing gaming devices that could detect the early warning signs of mental health conditions in players of all ages. Other gaming-related initiatives include community-building and opportunities for engagement across different platforms where gamers unite. By exploring how gaming can be used as a diagnostic tool or a therapeutic treatment, we strive to measurably demonstrate its impact on players.

Gaming taps into the motivational triggers that can make self-care more accessible and even enjoyable, particularly for individuals who may feel alienated by or uncomfortable in conventional healthcare settings. Hispanic community statistics show that one in three Hispanics is a gamer, with many turning to games for a sense of achievement, relaxation, and stress relief (3). They also gravitate towards genres like action and escapism, which suggest a preference for immersive, high-stakes experiences. But the question arises: can gaming become a culturally relevant pathway to mental wellness for Hispanics?

Addressing representation

Despite active participation in gaming among Hispanics, cultural representation within the games themselves is extremely limited. This lack of representation leads to feelings of exclusion or misalignment with the content, potentially limiting the effectiveness of these tools for Hispanic gamers. Author Jaime Pineda wrote for Medium in 2009: “Lack of Hispanic representation is still prevalent in the game industry…what does that do to younger gamers who realize that all their video-game role models have nothing in common with them cultural-wise?” Addressing this gap is crucial; games must evolve to reflect the cultural attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of their users, not just in language but in the very fabric of their design.

It’s an interesting paradox: despite their active participation in gaming, Hispanics often find themselves misrepresented or underrepresented within the very games they play. This misrepresentation not only affects their sense of inclusion in the gaming experience but could potentially also diminish the potential therapeutic benefits that gaming might offer. So how can we best bring together the power of therapeutic gaming in service to the Latino community and better mental health?

Let’s flip the script

Imagine a world where gaming therapeutics provide Hispanics with an accessible means of taking control of their mental health. Games that are not just translated into Spanish but are designed from the ground up with Hispanic culture at their core. This would mean more than just offering in-language support (which, obviously, not all Latinos need or want), it would involve crafting narratives, characters, and experiences that resonate deeply with Hispanic identities and values. For instance, in-culture diagnostic gaming treatments could be developed in collaboration with Hispanic consumers, advocacy groups, and allies. Games could blend proven therapeutic techniques with culturally relevant storytelling and aesthetics. These games could tackle mental health issues from a perspective that feels authentic and familiar to Hispanic players, potentially increasing engagement and efficacy.

Klick is eager to take on this endeavor, motivated by an unwavering commitment to health equity and a solid track record of authentic in-culture storytelling that motivates historically marginalized communities to action. During the COVID pandemic, we developed a cross-platform, cross-cultural clinical trial recruitment campaign for COVID treatments. It was critical to over-recruit Black and Hispanic participants as those communities were being hospitalized and dying at significantly higher rates than their non-Hispanic white counterparts.

The campaign resulted in just over 50% of the trial participants coming from communities of color vs. 10–15% that is the U.S. norm for clinical trial. The campaign eventually won an MM&M Gold award for clinical trial marketing. More recently, our “Get Uncomfortable” campaign for the Latina and Black women disproportionately impacted by lupus nephritis won Best Multicultural Campaign at the FiercePharma awards.

Ready to ignite change? Your call to help

We are ready and excited to create powerful new pathways for self-care that speak directly to the hearts and minds of Hispanic gamers. This is not just an opportunity but a necessity as we seek to make mental health support more inclusive and effective for all. As an organization that is 100% focused on healthcare and committed to helping eradicate health inequities, our Klick Health team is eager to find partners to be forces for change. Our ultimate goal is to develop a culturally resonant, impactful game co-created with the Hispanic community—and getting this game into the hands of Latinos to share its therapeutic benefits and inspire more games to follow. If you are interested in learning more and being part of this powerful initiative as a gaming company, as a gamer, as a Hispanic, as an ally, as a brand in the mental health and well-being space, as a healthcare provider or academic center, or as simply someone interested in pioneering accessibility in healthcare, join us.

References: