Playing Tetris Can Help You Get Over Bad Memories and PTSD

Can playing Tetris help you get over bad memories and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Maybe. Check this out.

Researchers in England had 52 people between the ages of 18 and 51 watch a traumatic 12-minute movie. We're talking disturbing scenes involving 11 deaths.

The next day, one half of the group did a memory reactivation task, and played Tetris for 12 minutes. Then both groups recorded each time they had flashbacks or bad memories of the disturbing video for the next week.

At the end of the week, the group that played Tetris had 51% fewer bad memories. Keep in mind, the Tetris group had also been given a test intended to make them improve their memory.

Why would they have fewer negative memories of the video? The researchers think it's because Tetris requires a high level of visual processing, so you remember what happened, but not in as much graphic detail

In other words, a traumatic event can cement itself in your memory in just a few hours. But if you disrupt that process right away, it can reduce the number of flashbacks. So it's possible that other games like Tetris could have a similar effect.