Is Playing Tetris the Answer to Dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
A recent UK study has found that playing the computer based puzzle game Tetris soon after witnessing a traumatic event might just help erase memories of the events witnessed.
In the study, forty participants between the ages of 18 and 47 were subjected to a 12 minute video that featured horrific images of physical injury and death. After watching the video, all the participants were then kept busy for the next half hour filling out forms. Then 20 of the participants were installed in front of computers screens and instructed to play Tetris for 10 minutes. The other 20 participants were left to sit quietly with nothing to do.
The results:
Those playing Tetris apparently reported less flashbacks to the images of injury and death they had witnessed in the video than those who had simply sat and did nothing. Even a week later, the participants who played Tetris continued to report less flashbacks.
The study’s authors have labeled using computer games in this way a “cognitive vaccine” – a means of preventing traumatic memories from sinking into your consciousness.
Could Tetris be the answer for the up to one in five US military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post traumatic stress disorder ?
