Playful therapy support for depressed children Mental health issues are on the rise among children – but therapy places are scarce. The STARK project (playful therapy support with adaptive realism for children) is developing a digital, interactive application for children aged nine to twelve that uses playful therapeutic approaches.
Mental health issues have increased in recent years, mainly due to crises such as the coronavirus pandemic, wars and climate change. Families with young children are particularly affected. They report more parental stress, more violence in the family and high levels of mental distress among parents and children. A recent study shows that depression has become more common, with around 25 percent of those affected struggling with it.
Depression in children can be long-lasting. The unclear and heterogeneous evidence on psychotherapy for depression in children and adolescents underscores the need for innovative forms of intervention that are specifically developed and tested for children. The aim is to intervene at an early stage to prevent depression from worsening or persisting into adolescence.
The STARK project is developing a digital, interactive application for children aged nine to twelve. It is intended to provide initial, readily available support for depressed children and can be used over a period of twelve weeks to bridge the waiting time for a therapy place. To this end, STARK develops the therapeutic approaches (a) understanding the triangle of emotions, (b) recognising, naming and regulating emotions, (c) activating resources and (d) developing positive activities. The STARK system aims to support children in dealing with emotions in a multisensory way (auditory, visual, haptic) by combining mixed reality technologies with gamification approaches. In addition to child-centred content, parent-centred modules are also being developed to take into account the relevance of the psychosocial environment.
The project, coordinated by OFFIS, started on 1 March 2025 and will run for three years. It is funded by the BMBF. Other partners include the Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychotherapy Department at the FU Berlin, the Chair of Clinical Psychology of Children and Adolescents at the University of Jena, the Industrial Design Department at the University of Wuppertal, and the companies Intecsoft and Nurogames.
