If you suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, U.K studies show that playing the popular puzzle game Tetris may be good for you.
Tetris players had fewer “flashbacks,” said scientists as the fast moving image oriented game competed for memory. “It is hoped the study could aid the development of new strategies for minimizing the impact of trauma.”
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
It may not work, but I am glad someone is thinking outside the box on this issue.
Think of it, your in a transport hit by an IED, you have head trauma, you are awake and aware…enough, medic hands you a gameboy and you get to level ten before you even reach the base…you never know.
I look forward to the studies based off this study.
I tell you what; I’m sending my old gameboy and tetris game in my next package for the troops. I think this would be a great idea for anysoldier and programs like it.
As a trauma victim and 25 year sufferer of chronic/extreme PTSD, I find many problems with this Tetris study.
1. In the 6-hour window after trauma, most trauma victims do not have access to Tetris or any other pyschological treatment. We are in police stations and hospitals undergoing interviews and examinations. We do not have timefor counseling or playing games or being ‘vaccinated’ against PTSD.
2. After a trauma we are in no emotional or cognitive shape to focus on playing a video game or psychological treatment. We are reeling physically and emotionally, and, most often, psychologically paralyzed.
3. The study does not actually simulate anything remotely close to trauma in the participants. They see graphic images – what we see in movies and on television and the web daily – they do not feel what trauma victims do, which is that their lives and physical well-being is threatened. Without this emotional imprint their reactions afterward are meaningless.
Sorry to sound like I’m trashing the topic. But healing, curing and preventing PTSD is possible under the correct circumstances, which I don’t think the Tetris study illuminates at all.
I myself am now into my second year of being PTSD-free. There are many of us healing over at http://parasitesofthemind.blogspot.com, where there is an ongoing free workshop and tons of info and resources for treatment. And we’re doing it all without the benefit of Tetris.