Gaming could reduce PTSD

Playing Tetris might help ward off symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a new study suggests.

A single dose of psychological therapy, including a stint playing the classic computer game, can prevent the unpleasant and intrusive memories that develop in some people after suffering a traumatic event, researchers found.

Car crash victims were found to have fewer symptoms if they were asked to recall their memories and then play a 20-minute game of Tetris in hospital within six hours of admission.

PTSD can occur when someone has experienced a road accident, war, torture, rape or other situations where they felt their life, or the life of another person, was in danger.

Symptoms can involve intrusive and unpleasant memories, also known as flashbacks.

Experts from Oxford University, the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and other organisations found that such flashbacks are less common among those who played the tile- matching puzzle game in an emergency department.