Wacky Facts by Agent K #25: Did You Know Playing Tetris Can Help You to Get Rid of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms?
For all of us that grew up during the 1990's spending countless hours playing Game Boy, the legendary tile-matching puzzle video game named Tetris is kind of sacred.
Designed by Soviet Alexey Pajitnov, the game was first released back in 1984 and went on becoming the best-selling video game in history with more than 175 million copies sold and downloaded since then. Furthermore, Electronic Gaming Monthly' s 100th issue named Tetris the "Greatest Game of All Time".
However, the epic game's contributions to our kind appears to be way more significant than one may think. At least, this is what scientists from Sweden have concluded!
The Menu of the Day
Apparently, playing the famous video game can help certain individuals to avoid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as a new study suggests.
Scientists from the Karolinska Medical University in Sweden, conducted a study which showed that people who had non-fatal car accidents presented less distressing “flashbacks,” if they played Tetris soon after they were taken to hospital.
More than seventy car accident victims were examined during the study, with half of them not being able to recall the traumatic experience clearly, after they played Tetris while waiting in the hospital’s emergency room.
The scientists also noticed that the patients who played Tetris experimentally, had fewer "invasive" memories of the accident a week later compared to those who didn't play the game within six hours of the accident. For that reason, experts now speculate that playing a visually demanding video game soon after a harmful event, could put a stop to the "invasive" characteristics of a traumatic experience in a sufferer's mind.
Emily Holmes, a Professor of Psychology at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience and director of the study, told Time:
"Anyone can experience trauma. It would make a huge difference to a great many people if we could create simple behavioral psychological interventions using computer games to prevent post-traumatic suffering and spare them these grueling intrusive memories.”
Despite the evident success of the study, however, researchers agree that further studies and tests need to take place in order to find out if there are long-term psychological benefits of playing Tetris after having a traumatic experience.
In case you enjoyed the Wacky Fact you just read, check out my article: How video games evolved to solve significant scientific problems for Ars Technica. After all, it was the article that pretty much funded my trip to New York ;)
References:
Playing Tetris Can Reduce PTSD Symptoms, Study Says
Post-traumatic stress symptoms can be prevented by using Tetris in the emergency department
Playing 'Tetris' After Trauma May Reduce Bad Flashbacks
That Tetris theme song. Why can't I get it out of my head!
yes ...
Tetris theme song. very nice..
Yes. Very nice. Very nice indeed.
I know, huh? Same problem here! I think I have spent over 10,000 hours playing Tetris and listening to its theme song since 1992 that I first played the game on my first Game Boy. There was a time (back in 1996) that when I was going to sleep stressed, I would close my eyes and see tons of Tetris bricks attacking my mind, no joke! lol
I believe it. I've seen those magic bricks before too. I don't think I have that many hours on the game but I know it's a high number. No ragrets.
Oh, hell yeah and now that I think about it, I may be wrong too. 10,000 hours is 416 days. From 1992 to 1994 all I played on my Game Boy was Tetris as it came with the console and video games were EXTREMELY expensive in Greece back then.
My mom got me Fortress of Fear two years later but I still played Tetris like a maniac for many more years (I will still play from time to time). Actually, 20,000 hours may be more accurate? I know for sure that Tetris and Street Fighter II are the two games I have played more than any other!
No ragrets whatsoever
hahahahaha. I played this game like every second of the day. i slept and woke up with it.
The Tetris theme song stays with me even till now, can't seem able to get it out of head.
Such a beautiful memory
"ear worms", "trauma worms", "tape worms" - just how many entities are worming their way into the human condition?
And when I die? Just food for the worms?
I know right? All these "worms" eat slowly our "spirit" and "brain" before they eventually consume our flesh (like literally this time). Maybe God is a worm after all? :P
God (for you) is whatever you worship I guess. I worship freedom. Now I have to decide whether it is the "Truth" that sets me free, or what.
Free as a bird :-)
Nice post ! Upvoted from @chanthasam. Follow me and upvote my post to get more up vote from me. Together we grow ! Thanks