Dr. Anthony Bean is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and specializes in the therapeutic implications
I provide psychological services in the form of virtual therapy and in an office in the state of Texas via the internet.
05/19/2025
GeekED 2025 registration is officially underway! This year's summer conference promises an exceptional lineup of panelists, distinguished keynote speakers, and unparalleled networking opportunities, all set against the vibrant academic backdrop of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) campus in Rochester, New York July 18-19, 2025.
Join us for an intellectually stimulating experience designed to explore the intersections of geek culture, mental health, education, and research.
Secure your spot today and be part of the conversation that's reshaping how we connect, educate, and thrive together.
Connection is the key. Finding your community doesn't happen all at once in a single day.
Try taking small steps each day searching for community leaders, or community hubs that interest you. Soon enough, you'll have a network that can help model what support can look like for you. Knowing you're not alone makes tackling things that strike fear in us a little easier.
02/06/2025
⚫Everyone need not submerge themselves in an underground tunnel of Bats. However, If you’re feeling uncertain about your goals for this year, embrace that feeling. Like Bruce Wayne training to become Batman, the first step is often the hardest, but it’s also the most important.
⚫Identify what drives you, set clear intentions, and give yourself permission to grow through the process—even if it feels imperfect. This year is your opportunity to rise above fear and step into the version of yourself you’ve always wanted to be.
02/05/2025
This is your exclusive chance to be part of something groundbreaking! The Geek Psychology Series is seeking passionate writers to dive into the psychology of your favorite fandoms—and get paid for it!
💡 Spots are limited, and the demand is high! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to contribute to a growing body of work that fuses mental health, wellness, and psychology with the geek worlds we love.
✔️ Are you a psychologist, mental health student, or a geek with deep psychological insights? Now’s your chance to make an impact, share your expertise, and have your name featured in this cutting-edge series.
🔥 Abstract Submissions Now Open—But Not for Long! 🔥
📖 The Psychology of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
📖 The Psychology of Borderlands
📖 The Psychology of One Piece
📖 The Psychology of Sonic the Hedgehog
🚀 Spots are filling fast! Don’t wait—secure your place in the Geek Psychology Series today!
02/05/2025
The New Year often comes with a mix of excitement and anxiety—it’s a fresh start, but it can also feel overwhelming.
New goals, new challenges, and the pressure to "get it right" can make it hard to begin. If that resonates with you, you’re not alone—and this course is here to help you & your client or loved one navigate that fear and step into the year with intention and courage.
Join our Monsters, Inc.-inspired training and learn how to:
✅ Recognize anxiety in kids across developmental stages
✅ Use play therapy techniques to externalize anxiety
✅ Leverage Disney narratives (like Boo and Sulley!) to help clients build courage and resilience
✅ Make therapy engaging for neurodivergent and neurotypical clients alike
This course is a reminder that fear, like the kind we feel at the start of something new, doesn’t have to hold us back.
Instead, it can be a tool for growth.
02/05/2025
The start of a new year isn’t just about moving forward—it’s about reconnecting with the things that bring us comfort and joy.
There’s something magical about revisiting the games that shaped us, and 2025 feels like the perfect time to celebrate the classics we hold dear.
Tales of Graces F Remastered invites us back into a world of friendship, adventure, and unforgettable stories, all with a fresh coat of brilliance. Whether it’s your first time exploring Ephinea or you're reuniting with old friends, this remaster lets us relive the nostalgia in a whole new way.
What’s so exciting about the new year is the chance to bring back our comfort games—those cozy, familiar worlds we love to lose ourselves in—and experience them in an entirely new light. Seeing them remastered reminds us just how timeless these adventures are.
What game do you keep returning to?
02/03/2025
The New Year can feel like staring at a blank page—or a scary monster in the closet. However, bravery isn’t about never being afraid; it’s about starting anyway.
Just like Sully and Mike learned, the things we fear often hold the greatest opportunities for transformation.
01/27/2025
Dr. Bean sat down with the Host of The Retro Gamers Podcast this past week and discussed all think therapeutic practice and retro gaming!
If you are a fan of Zelda, you do not want to skip on this podcast.
GeekED's Welcome Address Speaker last year Dr. Eric Wood recently published an article about Tabletop Role-Playing Games In College Mental Health and our very own Dr. Bean was featured in it!
The work we have done with college campuses across the country is extremely important to both Dr. Bean and our Director of Education, Alicia Figliuolo. Together they have help over a dozen college campuses bring TTRPG's to their Mental Health Programs and classrooms! Check out Dr. Woods article here:
Geek Therapeutics is excited to announce that Lynsi to the team as our Social Media Manger!
She brings over 15 years of dynamic experience in the Geek Entertainment and Marketing industry. Her expertise spans from creating immersive convention experiences to managing social media & marketing campaigns across conventions nationwide.
A q***r alt model passionate about indie games, comics, and fantasy, she has interviewed notable figures like Critical Role's Matt Mercer and worked with geek-chic fashion brands including Elhoffer Design. Lynsi created Crystal Case Apothecary, where she combines her entertainment industry background with patient advocacy to support the mental health and wellness of the geek community.
12/08/2024
The Psychology of Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is not only a symbol of speed but also a representation of perseverance, motivation, and the enduring power of friendship. This book will analyze Sonic’s unique personality traits, his dynamic with allies like Tails and Knuckles, and his antagonistic relationship with Dr. Eggman. It will also dig into deeper topics, such as the obsessive tendencies of Eggman, the struggles of Sonic’s companions, and the broader psychological themes of persistence and overcoming adversity.
Submit your abstracts to writers@geektherapeutics.com with the subject line: " The Psychology of Sonic the Hedgehog Abstract Submission."
12/08/2024
The Psychology of One Piece
One Piece is more than just a story of pirates in search of treasure—it is an exploration of human spirit, resilience, and the bonds of friendship. From Luffy’s unyielding will to achieve his dream to Zoro’s disciplined commitment and Nami’s resourcefulness, the Straw Hat Pirates represent diverse psychological traits that speak to universal themes. This book will examine these characters’ growth and motivations, the significance of their dreams, and the psychological power of the relationships they form along the way. Through these lenses, the series highlights key aspects of human psychology, including identity, ambition, and the pursuit of personal freedom.
Submit your abstracts to writers@geektherapeutics.com with the subject line: " The Psychology of One Piece Abstract Submission."
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Dr. Bean has worked with all ages across the lifespan focusing on various difficulties with specific life circumstances and general life concerns. He focuses on individual strengths and normalizing experiences throughout the lifespan and encourages individuals to rediscover their internal strengths. Additionally, Dr. Bean specializes in video games, children & adolescents, and the virtual worlds played in. He is considered an expert in this growing field, has been published extensively in the discipline. He works with children, adolescents, and adults who play video games and their families to better understand the immersive effects video games have upon the individual and resulting family dynamics. Dr. Bean utilizes video game character identification techniques and other archetypal experiences to understand and develop intrinsic motivations for playing, personal identity, and discovering conscious and unconscious conflicts, cognitions, and behaviors. He has worked with children, adolescents, and adults on discovering their own symbolic transformations through the playing of video games and dealing with depression, trauma, anxiety, social isolation, and other common diagnoses to great success.
Dr. Bean currently teaches at local colleges in person and online on the concepts of psychology, video games, life experiences, and how they are overlaid upon our lives. He is a regular guest of Tauren Think Tank and other radio shows and podcasts. If you would like to have him on your show, podcast, conference panel or for any other questions; he can be reached at anthonymbeanphd@gmail.com.
His clinical interests include archetypal identification, depth psychology, video games as therapeutic tools, play therapy, and personality research. Currently, Dr. Bean has been published in various forms regarding psychopathology, video gaming, personality of gamers, adolescents and gaming, and currently works with gamers to understand their identities in virtual worlds and how it interplay’s with the real world. Additionally, he presents at conferences on psychology, video gamer identity, and personality of video gamers.
DR. ANTHONY BEAN IN THE NEWS:
CNN: WHO classifies ‘gaming disorder’ as mental health condition
Inverse: Psychologists Criticize WHO Decision to Recognize ‘Gaming Disorder’
Inven (Korea, Use Google Translate): List of official WHO game disabilities, listened to experts from domestic and overseas
Polygon: ‘Gaming disorder’ classified as a mental health condition, but is the move premature? Many scientists continue to be skeptical
Books
Bean, A. M. (2018). Working With Video Gamers And Game In Therapy: A Clinician’s Guide. Routledge.
Reviews:
“This book is a must for understanding the attraction of video games, who plays them and why. Using video games in therapy is long overdue in understanding how people in the internet age can connect with like-minded people, create deep, long-lasting friendships and relationships, and learn valuable skills like leadership, teamwork, conflict resolution, and problem-solving. This book also gives valuable insight on archetypes in video games and what we can learn about the individual that gravitates towards certain archetypes. As a gamer myself, I am always playing the healer. The book’s archetype description for healer is most definitely me! Every mental health professional owes it to themselves to learn more about gamers and how they connect with the games they play, as well as how they connect with others (both in games and outside of them) over their love of video games.”
“Working with Video Gamers and Games in Therapy is an insightful read, offering clinicians a tangible way to understand game theory and mechanics. Anthony provides a way to understand the terminology, social interface, and deeper meanings behind modern video game culture. A valuable addition to the therapy library, this book helps to understand the evolving world of gaming in a unique and compelling way. His examples, definitions, and analysis are educational and open – displaying multiple gaming theories and approaches to controversial topics in the world today. Anthony provides not only discussion of concepts, but case examples that bring home the importance and value of this work. A thorough, research-based, valuable read for those seeking competence or even just a foot in the door. I caution readers to take this book with a fair amount of personal reflection, and a compelling argument towards understanding this culture much like any other.”
“One of the areas lacking in the discussion regarding the impact video games has on society is the use of video games in the realm of psychological research and praxis. I believe Dr. Bean’s book, “Working with Video Gamers and Gamers in Therapy,” provides a keywork in the field that shows the value of video games as a therapeutic tool for psychologists dealing with a variety of issues.
I think Anthony’s framing of video games in the first three chapters of the book will prove to be useful to those countering the claims of video game addiction as it provides a meaningful discourse of the textual and pathos interactions that occur within a player’s play of video games. Dr. Bean discusses in thorough detail how character development aids in a person’s understanding of not just the world they are playing in, but also their ability to make sense of the metanarratives that occur in the world away from the game. I found his connection to those narratives via the creation of meaningful and emotional experiences to be a strong reference towards looking at the immersive nature of video games rather than an addictive nature of those same games.
Finally, I would point to Dr. Bean’s use of case studies throughout the course of the book as a great tool for those teaching video games in a communication or psychology course as a means to discuss non-traditional means of therapy and non-traditional modes of health communication when dealing with the stress and trauma of individuals.
This book should be read by anybody that has questions regarding the value of video games as a means of helping people adapt to real-world problems.”
📷
Bean, A. M. (2019). The Psychology of Zelda: Linking Our World to the Legend of Zelda Series. Ben Bella.
