Stress, Angst, Depression: Wie kann uns Pen&Paper Rollenspiel dabei helfen?

Today, Jasmin talks with Christoph "The Dungeon Master" about why pen-and-paper role-playing games are far more than just a hobby and how D&D, Pathfinder, and similar games can evoke genuine emotions, foster social development, and even have therapeutic effects. Together, we discuss current research on depression, anxiety disorders, and memory improvement, and why fictional adventures can sometimes feel so real. How exactly does role-playing make us more courageous or better able to handle social situations? What responsibility does a game master have when traumatic or sensitive topics arise in a game? And how can tools like Session Zero, safety words, and clear boundaries help create a safe environment? We also discuss how pen-and-paper role-playing can be used in schools, youth centers, and therapy programs, and where the risks lie when escapism becomes problematic. How exactly does role-playing make us more courageous or better able to handle social situations? If you run or play D&D or other role-playing games, are interested in the connection between psychology and hobbies, or want to know why pen & paper role-playing is more effective for some people than coaching, theater, or support groups, then you'll find plenty of exciting insights in this conversation. As always, we look forward to your opinions, experiences, and constructive discussion in the comments. 😁 🎲 ━━━━━━━━━ ▼ ━━━━━━━━━ Here's a link to Christoph's homepage: https://thedungeonmaster.at/ A summary and interpretation can be found on our Ko-fi page, where you can download the PDF provided by Miggles for free: https://ko-fi.com/nerdalitycrafter Here are the links to the studies: The effect of tabletop role-playing games on the creative potential and emotional creativity of Taiwanese college students (Dyson et al., 2016) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science... Tabletop role-playing games and social and emotional learning in school settings (Stubbs, Sorensen, 2025) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science... A Study on the Efficacy of the Tabletop Roleplaying Game Dungeons & Dragons for Improving Mental Health and Self-Concepts in a Community sample (Merrick, Li & Miller 2024) https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/81119/ Framework proposal for Role-Playing Games as mental health intervention: the Critical Skills methodology (Otani 2024) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... Grant study: Harvard Study of Adult Development (since 1938 to today) https://www.adultdevelopmentstudy.org/ Rat Park: The effect of housing and gender on morphine self-administration in rats (Bruce K. Alexander, 1978–1981) https://ouci.dntb.gov.ua/en/works/lRg... TED Talks: Chrissy Profera – “Utilizing Dungeons and Dragons to Play Your Way Into wellness” https://www.ted.com/talks/chrissy_pro... to_wellness Jamie Flecknoe - “Developing Social Skills through Dungeons & Dragons” https://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_fleck... Kade Wells - “Dungeons and Dragons as Education and Intervention    • Dungeons and Dragons as Education and Inte...   ━━━━━━━━━ ▼ ━━━━━━━━━ If you'd like to financially support us and Nerdgehört, please visit our Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/nerdalitycrafter We love nerd t-shirts and have been wearing Qwertee t-shirts for years! 🤓👕 So we're thrilled that we were able to agree on a collaboration with them. Use the code "nerdality" to get €1 off any t-shirt, and we'll receive a small commission. If you use the code "nerdality", you'll get €1 off every t-shirt, and we'll receive a small commission. https://www.qwertee.com ━━━━━━━━━ ▼ ━━━━━━━━━ Discord: If you want to chat with other nerds about board games, pen & paper role-playing games, trading card games, and wargames, or share your freshly painted miniatures, then feel free to join our Discord server:   / discord