IN the aftermath of an ordeal like a car crash or a fire, it is natural to experience stress and anxiety.
However, those feelings might stick around longer for an individual, turning into something more serious, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is as if your brain is stuck in an endless cycle, reliving the terrifying details from the event over and over.
In recent studies, experts are claiming that playing Tetris might be an efficient way to distract your mind from those unwanted ideas and memories.
Is it true that playing a game like Tetris - where one focuses on arranging falling shapes and clearing rows - really hold the key to reducing the onset of PTSD?
VERDICT:
TRUE
According to the latest studies, engaging in visually challenging activities such as Tetris can disrupt the process of traumatic memory collection.
This were the findings of a study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, which divided 71 accident victims into two groups.
Within six hours of the accident, half of the participants played Tetris while waiting in the hospital's emergency room while the other half completed a different task.
Over the course of the following week, the patients were evaluated to track the frequency of memories or flashbacks associated with their accident.
The study found that those who played Tetris had 62% fewer intrusive memories in the following week than those in the group that didn't.
Additionally, Tetris players reported that those intrusive memories disappeared faster too.
The psychologist leading the study from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden stated that "Tetris also requires imagination and vision. Your brain cannot do two things simultaneously, so this interrupts."
As such, the findings would strongly suggest that playing Tetris or a similar game for approximately 20 minutes after a traumatic incident effectively reduces future intrusive flashbacks and has the ability to reduce anxiety for individuals.
SOURCES:
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
