Posted on 09/21/2024 12:21:20 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
A single treatment session, which includes the video game Tetris, can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"With just one guided treatment session, we saw positive effects that persisted after five weeks and even six months after treatment.
The researchers focused on getting rid of flashbacks. By replacing intrusive memories using a visual task, other PTSD symptoms can also be reduced.
The treatment is based on what is known as mental rotation, which lies at the heart of Tetris. When you look at an object from one angle, you can imagine what it would look like if it were rotated to a different position and could be seen from a different angle.
The study involved 164 participants. All participants monitored their intrusive memories of trauma for a week. Half the group were asked to play Tetris with mental rotation. The other half, the control group, was given a non-visual task: listening to the radio.
All participants kept a diary about their flashbacks. At the start of the study, participants were experiencing an average of 15 flashbacks a week. At a five-week follow-up, participants in the control group had an average of five episodes a week, but those in the gaming group had an average of just one.
At a follow-up six months after treatment, in an assessment using a recognized questionnaire (PCL-5) often used to assess all PTSD symptoms, the gaming group experienced around half as many as problems as the control group.
"I realize that it may seem unlikely that such a short intervention, which includes video games but doesn't include a therapist, could help.
"But the study provides scientifically controlled evidence that a single guided digital treatment session can reduce the number of intrusive memories, and that it can be used safely by participants," she continues.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
kind of lines up with EMDR
I did treatment for my neurological disorder at the Carrick brain center in TX. It started as PTSD treatment then they discovered it helped neurological disorders. The place that does those now is Plasticity brain health in FL. They use dots on the screen, spinning you at a certain rpm, following your terms on a screen etc. It sounds weird but it worked with me and everyone I that was there getting treatment in our down time. It takes 5-28 days depending on the severity.
Sorry for the typos I’m out and wanted to type this before getting dinner.
But isn’t Tetris Russian?
I suppose first-person shooter games are right out.
Ping
EMDR? Think ecstasy would be better but it’s illegal. They could start by allowing it to be used in old folks homes under a doctor’s supervision.
I wonder if the reduction is strong enough to warrant “classes” for soldiers when they return from a war zone. Could it be used as a preventative treatment???
The treatment is based on what is known as mental rotation, which lies at the heart of Tetris. When you look at an object from one angle, you can imagine what it would look like if it were rotated to a different position and could be seen from a different angle.
Much applies for functioning and surviving in the regular world of perpetual constraint. It often turns out (no pun intended) that the 'impossible' becomes easy through a change of perspective.
They use dots on the screen, spinning you at a certain rpm, following your terms on a screen etc.
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So they were physically spinning you around somehow? Like in a rotating chair of some sort? And when you say terms do you mean words displayed on a screen? What were the words and how were they chosen? Sounds like a fascinating process.
fl8
EMDR
But - I had friends who had been over there with me and we were able to talk to each other every day (and drink together) and after three years out of the Corps, I was invited back in and made a career of it.
Being in the day-to-day company of my fellow Marines caused whatever symptoms I had to recede, the bad dreams ended, and eventually I quit drinking completely.
I still flinch when I hear an unexpected loud noise, 57 years later. It's kind of late for video games, I guess.
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