Toys that relieve depression

No single toy can treat depression. Clinically proven specific sensory, low-load interactive toys can be used as auxiliary tools in addition to drug treatment and psychological intervention to help patients relieve accompanying symptoms such as anxiety, dissociation, and low mood. The effects have strong individual differences and cannot replace formal treatment.

When I was volunteering in the Child and Adolescent Psychology Department of a local mental health center two years ago, I met a 16-year-old girl with severe depression and generalized anxiety. When I first met her, she was holding on to a milky-white slow-rebound pinch device the whole time, and her knuckles turned white without letting go. After getting used to it, she said that when she was out of breath during an acute anxiety attack last time, the doctor gave her this and asked her to breathe according to the rhythm of squeezing it in and waiting for it to rebound. After squeezing it like this for ten minutes, she was finally able to speak a complete sentence.

You may have seen a lot of related posts, either touting anti-depression toys as "depression artifacts" and saying that you can get better after playing with them for two months without taking medicine, or labeling these things as IQ taxes and saying that they are completely useless. In fact, both sides are a bit biased. Currently, there is no unified conclusion in the industry on the role of this type of toys, and the opinions of different groups vary widely.

Most clinicians who hold a conservative attitude believe that the role of such toys is actually to "provide a safe anchor point for attention" and have no metaphysical content. For example, when a patient has dissociative symptoms and feels like he is floating in mid-air and separated from the world around him by a layer of membrane, the uneven texture touched by his fingertips, the resistance of pinching, and the weight of the gravity ball on his palm can all bring his attention back to the present moment and avoid falling into a deeper emotional hole. ； During an acute anxiety attack, it is easier to adjust your breathing to the rhythm of a toy than to count your breaths with empty hands. Most of them will only recommend categories with simple structures and no threshold for use. They will also repeatedly emphasize to patients and family members that this is an auxiliary tool and can be used at most for a dozen minutes when dealing with emotions. It is necessary to take medicine and receive consultation.

However, the usage that many patients find out on their own is much "wilder" than what is clinically recommended. I have seen patients who have a drawer full of mechanical keyboard testers. When they feel depressed, they press the keys one by one and listen to the clicking sounds of different keys. They say it is more effective than listening to white noise. ； There is also a 28-year-old male patient who goes home from get off work every day and puts together micro-block building blocks for half an hour. The completed dinosaur and motorcycle are placed on a bookshelf. He said, "You don't have to think about the troubles at work, and you don't have to force yourself to get better. You just stare at the small parts in your hand. If you put them together correctly, that will be your only achievement today."” ； Others sat with their cotton dolls in their arms all afternoon, tying their hair and changing clothes, saying that holding them softly in their arms was more real than many empty comforts.

Of course, the voices of doubt have never stopped. Last month I read a complaint from a blogger. He is a patient with severe depression diagnosed five years ago. He followed the recommendation of an internet celebrity and bought a stress-relieving toy worth thousands of dollars. As a result, his hands were covered in dust from the sticky Lego. The fidget spinner made him dizzy. He misplaced a Lego set and dismantled it for half an hour, and almost had an emotional breakdown. This is indeed the case. The adaptability of this type of toys is too personal. Some people think that furry dolls can bring a sense of security, while others think that hair loss will increase irritability. ； Some people think that pinching things can vent their emotions, while others think that pinching their knuckles hurts and makes them more anxious. There is no such thing as a "must-have" or "Top 10". The most important thing to be wary of is that many businesses deliberately exaggerate the efficacy and instill in parents the misconception that "you don't need to take medicine or see a doctor, just buy a few toys and your child will be happy." I have seen parents buy a whole box of toys for a child who was diagnosed with depression and stopped taking the medicine prescribed by the doctor. As a result, the child's symptoms worsened in half a month, and he could not even get out of bed when he was sent to the hospital.

To be honest, among the many patients I have come into contact with, most of them choose auxiliary toys that are suitable for them without looking at any recommendations. However, they basically meet a few small characteristics: First, there is no threshold at all. Even when you are lying down and don’t want to move, you can just raise your hand to play. After all, when you are depressed, you don’t even have the strength to get up and drink water. Those large models that require sitting for several hours to build will most likely just collect dust. ； The second is that there is no pressure to finish. You can throw it away after you paint two strokes if you don’t want to. You can pinch it twice and put it aside if you don’t want to play with it. You don’t have to force yourself to “finish it”, otherwise it will become a new burden. ； Third, it is safe enough and has no sharp edges. Even if you lose control and fall out, you will not hurt yourself or others.

A few days ago, I went to the Jingwei Center to do activities, and I met the little girl who was holding the pinch music again. She now hangs the old pinch music on the zipper of her school bag, and also has a small furry cat claw doll in her pocket. She said that she just squeezed it twice when she was under great pressure in exams recently, and it was much more stable than before.

In fact, to put it bluntly, these toys that can relieve depression symptoms are essentially just soft cushions. They cannot pull you directly out of the emotional quagmire, nor can they replace doctors, drugs, and those uncomfortable nights you have to endure. But when you suddenly get emotional, or feel like you're floating and can't touch the ground, it can catch you steadily so that you don't have to fall so painfully. That's enough.