What do you do when you cannot afford to treat your anxiety?
[Editor's Note: This interview was originally submitted in late January, when our proposed launch date was early February. Websites have a lot of movable, fallible parts; we ended up not launching until after the IndieGogo campaign for Worry Quest had already passed. As today marks the start of the Game Developers Conference, we are publishing the interview today to encourage readers to not only check out Matthew Bambach's work, but to also explore the use of games and apps as resources for people with anxiety, depression, and other mental illness.]
Matthew Bambach, a graduate student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, is in the process of developing a free app, , to help people who suffer from anxiety.
Treating mental illness is often so expensive that people often do not seek services until they have a crisis, at which point they often have developed other related conditions. This is particular unfortunate for the working class and the working poor, who are often more likely to struggle with mental health for a variety of reasons, including an unsatisfying work life and a lack of emotional and social support. Moreover, discrimination against those with mental illness often results in fewer employment opportunities, and, over time, less income.
People who suffer from mental illness are often caught in a vicious cycle where discrimination makes them more economically vulnerable, which in turn makes them more vulnerable to mental health problems.
I sat down with Bambach to discuss how his own experience with mental illness and health care motivated him to develop Worry Quest and his hopes for the app's future.
What inspired you to create Worry Quest? Was there an a-ha moment or was it a slow realization?
I lived in Toronto for four years; I struggled with anxiety then, but I didn't know what it was. I talked to somebody, and they're like "Why don't you check out cognitive behavior therapy?" And I did. So when I came to school it hit me again, and so whatever my thesis project was going to be for graduate school, it was going to involve addressing anxiety in some way.
I'm using my time at school to address something that was triggered by me being at school.
In Canada, I got my therapy covered by their universal health care. I find that remarkable. Whereas, when I came back to where I basically grew up, I had to make sure that my therapist was covered by insurance. Otherwise it was tremendously expensive. I went into one hospital just because they had a walk-in clinic there—if you weren't covered it was 800 dollars per session, which I think is ludicrous.
It was just kind of a combination of my own personal struggles, the insurance company system, and, I have a lot of friends who are outspoken about it too.
Were there any other differences you noticed receiving health care in the US versus receiving it in Canada?
It was somewhat easy to find a behavioral therapist in Canada that was covered; whereas, I don't even know where to look here.
I was reaching out to people, and I found one person who lead me to another person who lead me to another person. Someone told me [about] this service that is covered by the universal healthcare.
What strategy has been most helpful for you in managing your anxiety?
Taking care of yourself I found to be really important. You know, it's so basic, but it's hard to, sometimes.
It was helpful to really understanding why these thoughts are happening, and where these thoughts are coming from, which is a basic part of cognitive behavioral therapy. You take a thought, you contextualize it, and you create a more realistic thought from that. I would say that was the most helpful thing, starting off. Once I started to take care of myself, I felt like I was in more control.
Worry Quest seems like it would be not just a great idea for college students but for children, especially since it takes place in a fantastical sort of world. Why then did you decide to focus on college students?
This is something I've been kind of wondering about a little bit, because it is a fantasy world and a lot of people keep mentioning that they think it's for kids.
I was researching apps for kids and there's a Sesame Street app where you pop bubbles with your fingers, tickle monsters,stuff like that. I thought that kind of stuff was really brilliant; I think that certain things that work for you as a kid don't just stop working for you once you grow up.
I think there are certain things that are therapeutic and meditative, that we kind of forget about and come back to later.
Do you plan on developing other apps for fighting anxiety, but aiming them at other age groups?
I think with Worry Quest, young adults are the people to target, because they don't have the resources. I really think it can be tailored to be used by all age groups. In an ideal world, perhaps I'd give it to a school district or a college, and have them recommend it as a supplementary tool that can fill the gaps between counseling sessions. There's no reason it can't evolve into something that serves all groups.
It seems to me it would really appeal to a D-and-D sort of audience.
Yeah.
I noticed that one of the things Worry Quest asks you to do is draw a monster to represent your stressors. Where did that idea come from? Were you inspired by art therapy?
That actually came about before I even said I wanted to do an app, I was trying to figure out, how I could test people with different activities. I always, from the get-go, wanted to something very participatory-based. It just seemed to make sense to do that. I was reading up on how in narrative therapy, where you use your experience as this story where you can externalize your issues and create that separation.
How else did your education influence Worry Quest?
They have a design program here [at MICA], where students get to go out into the Baltimore area and work on projects with communities. A big part of design is user testing and analyzing user research. I'm interested in technology and how we can use design to help people, and connecting to people that way.
How have your professors respond to the project?
My grad directors are all very, very supportive of it. My professor Ellen, seems to really appreciate it when students do personal projects. They keep telling me to draw more monsters.
Are there any previous projects that have informed Worry Quest?
I interviewed a bunch of people on Facebook about their anxiety, and turned their responses into memes.
What has it been like taking about Worry Quest to therapists? How have they responded to you so far?
They're excited. I've talked to different people, and it's been really helpful; when you're developing a product you want to make sure that it's something that's needed. I can't remember who suggested that I have different therapies, based on what is best for people.
What part of this project are you most proud of?
I think the most rewarding part so far [has been] other's opinions of the project and the support. When I was interviewing people for those memes, people were very candid, and that means a lot to me. I think it's tough to share those stories. It's tough to take that up, but people were very generous with their stories.
That's why I do this: it's for people, and the more interaction I can have with people while designing things, the more worthwhile it is. That's been my absolute favorite part of the project so far—just hearing from people, and then putting it out there. It's been really nice, the interest and that acknowledgment. It's got to be a collective thing from the get-go. This is a project kind of by people, for people.
Matthew Bambach can be found on .