Tetris And Its Revolutionary Medical Breakthrough Regarding PTSD

Tetris, a tile-matching puzzle video game that was originally designed and programmed by a Russian developer and game designer Alexey Pajitnov, has been found to be effective in preventing post-traumatic syndrome disorder or otherwise known as PTSD.

According to Independent, patients who played the timeless video game after a distressing event in their lives reported fewer cases of post-traumatic syndrome disorder. The research was conducted by scientists on 71 car crash victims as they waited for their treatment at the hospital's accident and emergency department.

About half of the patients were asked to briefly recall the accident and were then made to play Tetris, wherein the players arrange falling blocks of different colors and shapes. The other half of the patients were asked to have a written activity. In both groups, each task was provided within six hours after the incident.

During the study, the researchers found out that the patients who had played Tetris reported fewer incidents of intrusive memories or flashbacks in the week that followed. Intrusive memories are one of the main symptoms of post-traumatic syndrome disorder or PTSD. It is an anxiety disorder developed by individuals who have been in motor accidents. PTSD can also be caused by violent assaults, such as military combat or witnessing violent events like death, terrorist attacks or natural disasters. However, it is not year made clear why some people develop the condition while others do not.

The researchers hypothesized that the game Tetris is able to disrupt the formation of long-term memories about the traumatic event, reported by Live Science. While Evening Standard stated that the game did this by disrupting how the brain consolidates the details of the event that may cause the post -traumatic syndrome disorder. Not to mention, other researchers also found a more rapid reduction in bad memories among those who played the game.