Entertainment & Wellbeing
Deep allows players to navigate through a serene and poetic underwater world. Movement is controlled by slow, deep diaphragmatic breathing which soothes and relieves anxiety in the player. Our adapted wellbeing experience is designed to be available to all.
Healthcare
Since 2016 researchers at the Games for Emotional and Mental Health Lab, Radboud University conducted several studies demonstrating the efficacy of DEEP as an anxiety regulation tool. Research is now being expanded to explore how DEEP can support people with trauma, PTSD, functional disorders, long COVID, and youth in forensic care.
Your breath is used to move you through the world of DEEP. As you breathe in you rise upwards and upon your exhale you float back down to the ocean floor, whilst your direction is travel follows your gaze.
When you breathe the world follows and flows with you. The creatures, plants and patterns mirror your rhythm, reinforcing the link to your own body and mental state.
“I WANT TO LIVE HERE”
— TETSUYA MIZUGUCHI, REZ & TETRIS EFFECT
“I WANT TO LIVE HERE”
— TETSUYA MIZUGUCHI, REZ & TETRIS EFFECT
Since 2016 Deep has undergone rigorous research led by Prof. Isabela Granic, co-director of the Games for Emotional and Mental Health Lab, and Dr. Joanneke Weerdmeester. The research team have explored the efficacy of Deep as a tool for anxiety regulation in youth. This research has resulted in various published papers.
In November 2021 Dr. Joanneke Weerdmeester succesfully defended her PhD dissertation which included her research with Deep. You can download the full doctoral dissertation here
Extensive research has been done to test if (and how) DEEP is effective in helping people to regulate their anxiety.
A randomized controlled trial and several multiple experimental studies have been conducted with anxious and non-anxious research samples of children and young adults.
Results demonstrate DEEP’s ability to alleviate youth’s anxiety in the short term and diminish their symptoms over a longer time period with more extensive practice. Furthermore, there is some indication that playing DEEP positively impacts player self-efficacy.
Research in a special education setting showed that the anxiety-relieving effects of a short (7-10 minute) playsession with DEEP could last up to 2 hours. Interestingly, some adolescents also showed less disruptive behavior which suggests that DEEP may influence other aspects besides anxiety.
With its accessible controls, DEEP enables wide audiences with varying cognitive and physical abilities to engage with the experience and to learn vital breathing techniques that can relieve their stress and anxiety.
Publications
“For the player it’s simple, yet it’s hard to explain how much better it made me feel … just five minutes strapped to Deep’s breathing device felt remarkable.”
— Joe Donnelly, VICE
“For the player it’s simple, yet it’s hard to explain how much better it made me feel … just five minutes strapped to Deep’s breathing device felt remarkable.”
— Joe Donnelly, VICE
“Deep gives users an accessible, immersive avenue toward claiming agency over their own bodies.”
— Michael Andor Brodeur, Boston Globe
“Deep gives users an accessible, immersive avenue toward claiming agency over their own bodies.”
— Michael Andor Brodeur, Boston Globe
screenshots from festival & museum installations and previous prototypes