How Tetris Is Helping Frontline Workers Fight PTSD

A brand new research from Uppsala University has discovered {that a} single therapy session, together with enjoying the online game Tetris, can considerably cut back signs of post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD).

The research, revealed in BMC Medicine, targeted on healthcare professionals working in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is possible to reduce the frequency of unpleasant and intrusive memories of trauma, and thereby also alleviate other PTSD symptoms,” defined Professor Emily Holmes, founding trustee of MQ and present director of the MQ Foundation. Emily, who led the research, famous that optimistic results had been noticed even 5 weeks and 6 months after only one guided session. “If this effect can be achieved with an everyday tool that includes video gaming, it could be an accessible way to help many people,” Holmes added.

PTSD typically manifests as flashbacks—vivid, intrusive reminiscences of trauma. Holmes and her colleagues have lengthy researched methods to forestall PTSD, and this research aimed to scale back flashbacks particularly through the use of a visible process, like psychological rotation, which is a core side of Tetris. The thought is that visible duties can substitute intrusive reminiscences and cut back different PTSD signs.

The research concerned 164 members who monitored their flashbacks for every week. They had been then randomly assigned to certainly one of two teams: half performed Tetris utilizing psychological rotation, whereas the management group listened to the radio. All members saved diaries of their flashbacks. Before the research, members averaged 15 flashbacks per week. After 5 weeks, the management group averaged 5 episodes per week, however the gaming group had only one. Six months later, the gaming group continued to expertise fewer and fewer extreme PTSD signs, reporting about half the issues of the management group, in keeping with a widely known PTSD questionnaire (PCL-5).

Holmes mentioned,

“It was surprising to us that the treatment method was so effective and that the improvement in symptoms lasted for six months. I realise that it may seem unlikely that such a short intervention, which includes video games but doesn’t include an in-depth discussion of trauma with a therapist, could help.”

However, she emphasised that the research affords managed proof {that a} single guided session can safely cut back intrusive reminiscences.

Holmes additionally shared her broader imaginative and prescient for the longer term, stating,

“My vision is that one day we will be able to provide a tool for people such as healthcare professionals after traumatic events to help prevent and treat early PTSD symptoms, that is a ‘cognitive vaccine’, in a similar way that we currently vaccinate against some infectious physical diseases.”

The analysis was a collaboration involving Uppsala Clinical Research, Karolinska Institutet, Dalarna University, and different establishments from Germany, the UK, and Australia.

In 2017, MQ funded a research by Dr Jennifer Wild from Oxford University, trialling a brand new intervention Called SHAPE Recovery, to assist forestall PTSD from taking maintain in healthcare employees. The outcomes of this research have been extremely encouraging.