In small doses: Tetris is a PTSD 'vaccine,' prevents flashbacks, study finds
Believe it or not, the image above is not some ten-year-old's 5th grade collage. It's real science, by the fine chaps in the department of psychiatry at the University of Oxford. The study sat individuals in front of a 12-minute clip of "traumatic scenes of injury and death" (we're not talking Mario falling into a pit here), gave them a 30-minute break, and then split them into two groups. One group was asked to sit in silence. The other played Tetris for ten minutes.
The study found that those who played Tetris had significantly fewer flashbacks of the gruesome video in the days that followed, according to mandatory diaries kept by the participants. The results suggest that Tetris acts as a "cognitive vaccine" against the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which correlates with contemporary treatments that call for the use of visual "distractions" to treat reoccurring mental trauma. But much like Heroin before it, Tetris may end up being the cure that needs to be cured. In other words: Use only as directed.
[Via guardian.co.uk]
