This Game Helped Me Learn Skills That I Couldn’t Get in Therapy.
It’s January 2025. The main character of this story is drowning in uncertainty. She’s barely recovered from the holiday season, monumental goals for the new year loom before her, and a wall of self-doubt and social pessimism obscures any sense of what the immediate future might look like. An Instagram advertising oracle emerges recommending a “shamanic journey”-like app for mental health.
That’s how I downloaded Betwixt , put on my headphones, and found myself in a frozen wasteland where a disembodied voice guided me to transform my inner landscape.
What is Between?
Described by its creators as “an epic journey of self-discovery,” Betwixt is a text-based, choose-your-own-adventure game that addresses a variety of concerns: gameplay, storytelling, meditation, mental health education, audio inclusion, and aesthetics.
To use the app, you should ideally put on headphones and be in an area where you won’t be disturbed for 15 to 20 minutes. In each session or segment of the story, you are taken into an “in-between space”, a kind of liminal space that exists inside your mind and outside of reality. While the atmospheric sound plays, the story scrolls on the screen. Often prompts appear about choosing the next action or answering a direct question from the voice accompanying you.
Through storytelling and self-reflection, you move through stages while inviting reflection on your strengths, challenges, and coping tools. You can experience the first three dream sessions for free, then you’ll be asked to pay a one-time fee to continue exploring all 11 chapters. When I signed up, membership levels ranged from $20 to $200.
Each dream session includes some or all of these features:
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Interactive dream/story
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An article corresponding to the topic of the story.
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Sound track
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Replayable actions from a session
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Log prompt
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Meditation
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Quote worth saving or sharing
I chose a membership level ($59) that will allow me to replay any of the Dream sessions and gain access to Infinite Dream, an additional experience that can be enjoyed at my own pace.
How the game helped me
The narrative format of this app allowed me to learn some mental health skills that were elusive through therapy or other forms of psychoeducation.
For example, the technique of psychological distancing—seeing my problem from a point of view outside of my crazy mind—really worked because the story in “Between” took me through the whole process of leaving my body and seeing my problem from a different perspective, taking into account the opinion of an outsider. person. interpretation and reorientation to the future.
Betwixt co-founder Ellie Dee said this way of learning through stories is one of the key benefits of an app like Betwixt. “Rationally, you can understand the maladaptive thought patterns behind negative emotions and behaviors, but understanding the problem will not necessarily solve it,” she said. “People learn best through experience, through play.”
Each sleep session provides one or more mental health tools such as psychological distancing; After the game you have the opportunity to read more about the topic and journal about it.
How apps like Betwixt fit into mental health care
You can easily equip your phone with apps that support meditation, self-care, mood tracking, journaling, breathwork, self-awareness, goal setting and therapy. I use apps like this along with traditional therapy. “Between” felt like something different, which made me think about where my story might go.
PsychologistDr Alexandra Stratiner said apps such as Betwixt could complement traditional mental health care by helping users work towards their goals between sessions.
“They offer an interactive and fun alternative to traditional methods such as journaling or traditional forms of guided meditation, which may not be suitable for everyone,” Streiner said. “Addictive gameplay allows users to explore their emotions in a safe and creative way, which can make self-examination less daunting. Some such apps give users the opportunity to receive immediate support, which can be especially helpful in times of increased stress or anxiety.”
Who is Betwixt for?
Consider Betwixt if you enjoy games or immersive storytelling, struggle with traditional mindfulness or meditation practices, or if you’re looking for a unique mental health tool.
Betwixt may also benefit people with anxiety, Streiner said.
“Interactive, storytelling-based tools may be particularly effective for addressing mental health issues that benefit from self-reflection, emotional exploration and stress reduction,” she said. “For example, anxiety can be alleviated through the immersive, controlled environment that these tools provide, which allows users to confront fears and uncertainty in a safe virtual space. Immersive narrative games aimed at achieving mental health goals can also offer therapeutic support, allowing users to work through difficult experiences at their own pace.”
However, Betwixt and other apps are not a substitute for therapy and mental health care. Streiner said mental health apps fall short in personalizing interventions based on your history and needs, addressing complex and serious mental health issues such as suicidal ideation and trauma-related distress, and monitoring long-term mental health care.
“It’s important to remember that this type of approach has limitations compared to traditional therapy,” Streiner said. “Traditional therapy offers immediate feedback and personalized strategies that are difficult to replicate in a game. While gamified tools are useful additions for skill building and daily maintenance, they lack the adaptability and emotional support that a therapist provides when navigating difficult emotional states or identifying underlying issues. Having a live person provide therapy also has unique benefits for the relationship that are well supported by research; apps can’t replicate the human factor.”