Playing Tetris Can Reduce Onset of PTSD After Trauma, Study Finds (cnn.com)

Reader dryriver writes (slightly edited and condensed): CNN, citing a new study, reports that playing Tetris within hours of a traumatic event can reduce the onset of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: After experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, such as a car accident, people are likely to develop anxiety or distress in relation to that event soon after the experience, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But a new study has shown that playing the computer game Tetris within hours of experiencing trauma can prevent those feelings from taking over your mind.
PTSD occurs when intrusive memories linked to fear from a traumatic event become consolidated in a person's mind by them visualizing the event in a loop until it becomes locked in their brain. Competing with the visualization, such as with a game like Tetris, can block that consolidation form happening. "An intrusive memory is a visual memory of a traumatic event," said Emily Holmes, Professor of Psychology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, whose team led the study. "Tetris also requires imagination and vision. Your brain can't do two things at once, so this interrupts," she added.

Comments

PTSD Cure Illegal

[bill_mcgonigle]

Not to diminish the importance of blocking memory formation (nice research), but most people do not care about those who suffer from PTSD.

We have a known cure for PTSD, combination MDMA psychotherapy, but it's currently illegal in most of the world because both the US FDA and DEA political hacks claim that no medical uses exist for the chemical (despite the DEA Court finding otherwise).

It's a clear case of government vs. science and the loser in the battle is the vulnerable population of patients with PTSD (and the rest of society by extension). Sadly, most of society supports those politicians over both science and the needs of the afflicted.