In small doses: Tetris is a PTSD 'vaccine,' prevents flashbacks, study finds

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 7th 2009 at 4:59PM }

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]

Tags: flashbacks, ptsd, tetris

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Haggard @ Jan 7th 2009 5:04PM

This sounds like phony science at its pinnacle.

Exclusively Tetris makes people forget about the scenes? Or is it just that if you're sat in silence with nothing to distract you you'll probably think about it more.

Also, they keep a diary of how often they have flashbacks? Surely the fact that they have the diary encourages them to think about it.

ab @ Jan 7th 2009 6:16PM

I’m glad that you were able to form an opinion on this study by reading a summary-of-a-summary of the article rather than the article itself. In the article, they clearly specify that the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of using a “visuospatial computer game.” Tetris is just one example of such a game. This study doesn’t preclude other methods. There are other studies that discuss the effectiveness of other techniques (they specifically mention both counting backwards and finger pattern tapping.)

Moreover, the purpose of this study isn’t designed to compare the effectiveness of “Tetris + Maintaining a diary” v “not playing Tetris + not maintain a diary.” For taking a baseline (i.e., establishing a control group), not doing anything and maintain a diary seems reasonable especially compared to what they are trying to evaluate—playing Tetris and maintain a diary.

I’m not a psychiatrist, (my Ph.D. is in computer science); however, this study seems reasonable; however, there are two problems with this study. First, there are only 40 participants, but for a first pass that seems reasonable. Second, Tetris was used instead of Dr. Mario.

Haggard @ Jan 7th 2009 6:45PM

Fair point.

snarfoogle @ Jan 7th 2009 7:10PM

Breaking news: Study finds that doing stuff prevents thinking about what you were doing before!

This will of course have a dramatic effect on PTSD, especially for the military. Perhaps next our friends at the University of Oxford will do a study that proves that bullets accelerate downward, further saving lives, helping people, and revolutionizing science!

Esat Dedezade @ Jan 7th 2009 5:05PM

An initial glance resulted in confusion as to how exactly Tetris prevents STDs....

Strategy_Panda (The Sandwich Poisoning Crew) @ Jan 7th 2009 5:07PM

gamers don't have sex. duh

Moptimus Slime (In honor of those who fought and died during the hostile UGO attack on Fort 1UP) @ Jan 7th 2009 5:08PM

You cant have sex AND play Tetris at the same time

Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Jan 7th 2009 5:14PM

Rule 34 on Tetris, Furry Style?

FUCK YEAH!

Blank-Mage @ Jan 7th 2009 6:51PM

Drunken furry tetris orgy is NOT what Alexey had in mind.

.....Or DID he?

Zertoss @ Jan 7th 2009 5:06PM

Hey, I can quit playing Tetris anytime I want!

*grabs Gameboy and starts playing Tetris*

Haggard @ Jan 7th 2009 6:46PM

lol, addict!

How about I book you into reh...

>_>

Haggard @ Jan 7th 2009 6:47PM

Damn, using those bracket thingies sure screwed that post up.

move along folks, nothing to see here...

Andrew @ Jan 7th 2009 5:09PM

I imagine it works just like eye movement therapy. It has NOTHING to do with eye movement, it's more about distracting yourself instead of thinking about the traumatic events.

It makes sense, but Tetris truly does nothing. It would work the same with any other game.

Holla @ Jan 7th 2009 5:12PM

Well shouldn't there be like a third group doing something?

sam @ Jan 7th 2009 5:59PM

If they just meant to show that doing something is better than sitting looking into space thinking about people in car crashes, then presumably this is adequate.

If they wanted to show that playing Tetris is better than, say, something else active (like playing squash or Wii Fit or Gears of War) or even something inactive (like watching TV) then they would need to do other comparisons.

I skimmed the paper. It doesn't look like they compared other options. Ho hum. (Although perhaps you would assume that people would ordinarily do things like watching TV as they go about their lives.)

Also note that you (possibly) have to play Tetris immediately after seeing the car crash or whatever. Better send out Game Boys with the paramedics, then!

J @ Jan 7th 2009 6:28PM

sam,

Thank you for the squash reference/example. I used to play competitively way back in the day, and despite how popular it really is, no one seems to have heard of it.

btw, I'm not sure if it was Squash or Tetris that cured my Herpes. It really could have been either.