Distressing flashbacks, a trademark of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are caused when people – soldiers, sexual assault victims, and even patients in Intensive Care Units – re-live disruptive or terrifying events. To ease the symptoms of PTSD, which is an anxiety disorder, psychologists are researching the effects of playing a puzzle video game.
How Video Games Reduce PTSD
Emily Holmes, PhD, and Catherine Deeprose, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford found that people who play Tetris after viewing traumatic material have fewer flashbacks to disturbing memories. In their study, 40 healthy volunteers watched a film that included various types of traumatic images, such as the harmful effects of drunk driving (a recognized way of studying the effects of trauma in the lab). Thirty minutes later, half the participants played Tetris for 10 minutes while the other half did nothing.
The results? The volunteers who played the game reported significantly fewer flashbacks over the following week. Their anxiety was decreased.
“We know there is a period of up to six hours in which it is possible to affect certain types of memories that are laid down in the human mind,” says Deeprose. She explains that it’s possible to interfere with the way memories are retained in the brain without decreasing the ability to make sense of the event. In this study, the negative memories were disrupted by Tetris, which reduced the likelihood that those memories returned through disturbing and involuntary flashbacks.
Decreasing Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
“This is only a first step in showing that this might be a viable approach to preventing PTSD,” says lead researcher Holmes. “This was a pure science experiment about how the mind works, from which we can try to understand the bigger picture. There is a lot to be done to translate this experimental science result into a potential treatment.”
Even without the support of sound scientific evidence, it may be worth the effort to play a game or somehow disrupt your thought processes if you’ve recently experienced a traumatic event. You may not only reduce the likelihood of flashbacks later on…you could decrease your immediate distress and symptoms of anxiety, which will improve your emotional and physical health!
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Source: University of Oxford press release, January 7, 2009. ‘Tetris’ May Help Reduce Flashbacks to Traumatic Events.
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