The Therapist Gamer

Persona 4 is one of the better games I've ever played. It was originally made for the PS2, but was given a fresh coat of paint, many upgrades, and re-released on the PS Vita as Persona 4: Golden. It's probably the most relevant game I've posted about with regard to me being both a therapist and a gamer.

It's a Japanese Role Playing Game (JRPG), which basically means it's an RPG with a turn-based combat system, like Final Fantasy. The gameplay is slick and streamlined, but perhaps the best part of the game is the story. It can get pretty complicated so I won't go into too much detail. However, I'll try to give you the gist of the game.

You play as a teenager from a big city who goes to live with his uncle for the school year in a small town called Inaba. There's a rumor going around town: if you look into an unplugged TV on a rainy night at midnight, you will see your soul mate. Even though this sounds silly your character tries it out. Much to your surprise, it works! You see an image of a young woman for a brief moment and then the image disappears. You make a few friends at school, and discover that they saw the same image you did. However, things become clear that this girl isn't their soul mate because she turns up dead!

Further along in the story your character discovers that he can reach his hand into a television set. He enters the television and finds himself in a world shrouded in fog, with strange "shadow monsters" all around. He finds evidence that the dead girl was there inside this world. He and his friends surmise that people go missing in this TV world and will end up dead unless they are rescued. Every month another person goes missing and it's up to you to rescue them and solve the mystery of what's going on.

The game itself is actually based off of Jungian psychology, which is one reason why I really liked the game. I captured some screenshots where an in-game teacher is explaining some Jungian concepts, but I'll try to explain some brief concepts here. Jung theorized that each of us has a "shadow," or part of ourselves that is so threatening to our ego (or psyche, or self, etc.) that we don't acknowledge it. He theorized that this shadow, or unconscious, part of ourselves was much bigger than what we are consciously aware of - much like how an iceberg is much bigger under the water than what is visible above the water. Jung further theorized that refusing to acknowledge these hidden parts of ourselves would eventually lead to them being manifested in some way or another - that they won't remain hidden just because we refuse to look at them. Accordingly, a major focus of Jungian psychotherapy is increasing consciousness, or looking at the shadow. This is accomplished by exploring and processing personal issues with another person, typically a mental health therapist. 

 

Allow me to use myself in a brief example. I think part of my shadow involves my fear of not being in control of my life, and the fact that there are things outside of my control. If I'm not aware of this I will unconsciously do things to try to gain control. Maybe I overachieve in school to make sure I get a good job; maybe I talk too much in friendly conversation; maybe I develop a delusion that I'm Jesus and can perform miracles. These all have to do with me trying to gain control. Being conscious of my issues with control doesn't eliminate these problems, but I can at least be aware of what's going on so I can work to improve things. Someone might come to therapy because they frequently fight with their husband, but then come to realize that perhaps the real issue is that they haven't accepted that some things in life are out of their control (I use "control" as an example because it's extremely common).

Jung theorized that there was a sort of "collective unconscious," and that there seemed to be issues that all of humanity tended to have in their shadow. This "collective unconscious" is represented in this game by the "shadow world" - the land in the TV shrouded by fog. In the game it's inhabited by shadow monsters, many of which appear to be representative of issues that many people struggle with. (Incidentally, this world is analogous to the place in the movie "Inception" where Leonardo DiCaprio and his wife built their city.) 

Jung also theorized that people have a "persona," or mask. A persona is the part of ourselves we show the world (and ourselves), and does not include the shadow. He theorized that our persona protects us in our environment as a sort of defense mechanism. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that our personas are typically not consciously put forth, but rather naturally arise from us not wanting to look at our own shadow. You see, if I were to acknowledge the fact that I'm not really a special person - that I'm just another person living on a planet with billions of people - then my ego (or psyche, etc.) might not be able to handle that very well. In fact, I might get very depressed if I were to think about that for too long. I might even get so depressed that I consider killing myself. So, in order to avoid this, the ego doesn't like to acknowledge the fact that I'm not special. It might even develop a persona to try to compensate for this deeply held belief by acting super important. Maybe I'll even become narcissistic or run for President just to compensate for the fact that, deep down, I know I'm not really all that important in the world. Our persona attempts to regulate this internal struggle.

Jung theorized that it was important to gradually, and safely, take a look at our shadow. He theorized that by doing so we would become more conscious of our own functioning and thus could function more effectively in our environment. This theory is played out in Persona 4. Each major character you come across is dealing with an issue in their shadow. While they are in the TV world, their shadow takes over and they don't appear to be "themselves," - in other words, their friends are used to seeing their persona but now they are seeing their shadow. This internal conflict is played out in video-game form, with your friends helping you confront your shadow. Once you "defeat" your shadow, your character talks with their shadow and confronts it. By doing so, they gain greater power over their persona and gain new strengths and abilities. (In theory, the goal is not to "defeat" the shadow, but rather acknowledge it as the characters do in the game.) It sounds dorky, but I really like how this all plays out because your friends help you in the game, just like how friends (or a therapist) can help you in real life.

The story itself, while including all of these psychotherapy references, is really more of a murder mystery. Who is taking people and throwing them into the TV world? Why? How can they be stopped? Is it even a good idea if they are stopped? After all, they're just forcing people to confront their shadow . . .

The game last about 1 year, in-game time. The day is divided into morning, afternoon, and evening, and you are able to do one thing per block of time. Do you want to make paper cranes to increase your Understanding, or do you want to go to soccer practice to raise your Diligence? Or do you want to go into the shadow world and battle shadows, finding loot and gaining experience along the way? You learn things in classes and even have exams!

Overall, I really liked this game. If you are a fan of JRPGs this is definitely a must-play, and I would recommend this game to you even if your aren't (I'm not, really). Many times throughout this game I asked myself questions and evaluated my world-view, which is something I can say of only a handful of games.