New research suggests that playing the video game Tetris, delivered in a single guided treatment session, may reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The study, conducted by a team of scientists from Uppsala University, has shown promising results in health professionals who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group particularly exposed to traumatic experiences.
These results have been published in the journal BMC Medicine, opening up a potential avenue for accessible treatment for a condition that affects millions of people worldwide.
PTSD is a disorder that can develop after exposure to traumatic events, and one of its most characteristic symptoms are the so-called “flashbacks”, intrusive and distressing memories that often appear unexpectedly and hinder the mental well-being of those affected.
In addition to flashbacks, people with PTSD may experience a number of additional symptoms, ranging from avoidance of certain places or situations related to the trauma, to constant emotional tension, sleep problems and difficulties concentrating.
In this context, Professor Emily Holmes, who led the research, points out that the effects observed were notable even after a single treatment session. The study participants, which consisted of a total of 164 health professionals, They were followed up for five weeks and, in some cases, up to six months after the intervention.
According to Holmes, a session of playing Tetris, designed with a specific visual task known as “mental rotation,” proved surprisingly effective in reducing intrusive memories. This improvement also led to a decrease in other symptoms associated with PTSD, such as avoidance and excessive emotional tension.
The experimental procedure was simple but ingenious. During the first phase, participants recorded the frequency of their flashbacks related to traumatic events for a week. They were then divided into two groups.
One of them was assigned the task of playing Tetris with specific instructions involving mental rotation.while the other group, used as a control, simply listened to the radio without performing any visual tasks.
Improvement of post-traumatic stress symptoms
The results showed significant differences between the two groups. At the start of the study, participants reported an average of 15 flashbacks per week. However, after five weeks, those who had played Tetris experienced only one episode per week on average, while the control group still reported an average of five episodes.
Most tellingly, in a follow-up six months after treatment, participants in the Tetris group showed less severe PTSD symptoms. In an assessment conducted with the PCL-5 questionnaire, a common diagnostic tool for measuring PTSD symptoms, The results indicated that the group that used the video game presented almost half of the problems reported by the control group.
Professor Holmes was surprised by the magnitude of the results and the persistence of the positive effects. While it may seem unusual that such a brief and seemingly non-therapeutic treatment, such as playing a video game, is able to produce these effects, the data supports the idea that this type of digital intervention has significant potential in the fight against PTSD.
Furthermore, she notes that the absence of prolonged discussion of the trauma with a therapist during treatment does not appear to have impeded its effectiveness.
Holmes and his team have been researching how to prevent PTSD for years, and this study represents a step toward a more accessible and less invasive treatment. According to him, this type of intervention could even act as a kind of “cognitive vaccine.”providing people exposed to traumatic events, such as healthcare professionals, with an effective tool to prevent the onset of the most acute symptoms of the disorder.
While further research is needed to validate these findings in a broader population, the study suggests that video games, an everyday tool, could have a profound impact on the treatment of PTSD, offering a potentially revolutionary solution for many people who suffer in silence.