Innoculate yourself against PTSD: Play Tetris

A recent study hints that soldiers witnessing a horrific, traumatic event may be able to prevent flashbacks due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) simply by playing a little Tetris. 

Playing Tetris appeared to interfere with the brain’s ability to form a significant visuo-spatial memory of the traumatic event. Such memories are an important component to flashbacks. No such memories means a reduced likelihood of future flashbacks.

Granted, the study was conducted on undergraduate students as opposed to soldiers and the “traumatic” incident was a film not a true PTSD-inducing incident.  Despite these limitations, this study is interesting in its implications.

First of all, do these findings suggest that in the future soldiers in the field will have a military-grade GameBoy tucked in their belt for emergency innoculations?  (“Omigod!  They shot Kenny!  Break out the GameBoys, men!”)  Will this have an effect on the efficacy of the military?  (“How could you have missed that sniper on your perimeter check, Private?”  “I was giving myself a PTSD shot, sir.”)  Will the major video game companies be vying for military contracts?

On the other side of the coin, consider what this has done to those of us who have played way too much Tetris in our time.  Is this visuo-spatial interference the reason I don’t remember my high school graduation?  How I totalled my car the first time?  The name of that girl I dated for three years? 

If you want to conduct further studies on your own, you can play a free online version of Tetris here.  Say good-bye to both your fears of PTSD and your productivity.