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Playing Tetris could help reduce PTSD symptoms

Thursday 30th March 2017
Could popular 1980s video game Tetris help to prevent the development of post-traumatic stress disorder? Image: jakubrupa via iStock
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    The retro video game Tetris could help to play a key role in preventing the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in car accident victims, according to a new study.

    Research carried out by doctors based at Oxford University and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found that giving patients the game to play on their way to hospital via ambulance or at least within six hours of a traumatic incident could prevent them from developing PTSD several weeks down the line.

    This discovery was made after the researchers monitored 71 car crash victims, who were divided into two groups. Within six hours of the trauma, half of the participants were asked to recall the event before being given a game of Tetris to play, while the other half had to recount events but did not play the video game.

    Patients were then spoken to one week later and it was found that those who had played Tetris soon after their accident appeared to have fewer traumatic memories of the incident when compared to their counterparts who had not been given this opportunity.

    Scientists believe that this result is likely to be due to Tetris providing patients with something to concentrate on that required them to think logically to succeed at the game, which will have distracted their minds from thinking too deeply about their accident.

    It was also found that any signs of PTSD that the Tetris-playing group did show in the weeks after their trauma disappeared much more quickly in comparison to those who never played the game.

    Professor Emily Holmes of the Karolinska Institutet commented: "Anyone can experience trauma. It would make a huge difference to a great many people if we could create simple behavioural psychological interventions using computer games to prevent post-traumatic suffering and spare them these gruelling intrusive memories."

    "This is early days and more research is needed," she added.

    The results of this study suggest that other distracting activities that require concentration could also help to prevent the onset of thoughts and symptoms associated with PTSD, as long as they are performed within a few hours of a traumatic event occurring.

    Written by Angela Newbury

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