A study has found that a classic video game has been able to reduce distressing memories.
A trial has found that one classic game can help with a mental health issue.(Image: Getty Images)
A study has found that playing one classic video game could be able to reduce the amount of traumatic memories that recur in patients. In a trial focused on health workers, the game Tetris was found to have a significant impact on their flashbacks of distressing events.
With the success of the trial, which was carried out in the UK and Sweden, researchers now hope they will be able to test their method on a larger group of people. With the treatment method being described as “accessible, scalable and adaptable”, it is hoped that the same effect will be seen elsewhere.
The recent study included 99 members of NHS staff who had experienced or had been exposed to trauma while at work during the Covid pandemic. With the NHS being the frontline to the devastation the disease caused, many witnessed deaths in their hospitals.
Out of the workers in the trial, 40 of them were given the treatment known as imagery competing task intervention (ICTI), reports the Mirror. For this treatment, the patients were asked to play a slow game of Tetris while briefly recalling a distressing memory.
After that, they were asked to imagine the Tetris grid and visualise the blocks in their mind’s eye. This method is thought to help weaken the vividness of traumatic memories as the visuospatial areas of the brain are being occupied by the vision of the game.
Professor of psychology at Uppsala University, Emily Holmes who led the study, explained: “Even a single, fleeting intrusive memory of past trauma can exert a powerful impact in daily life by hijacking attention and leaving people at the mercy of unwanted and intrusive emotions.
“By weakening the intrusive aspect of these sensory memories via this brief visual intervention, people experience fewer trauma images flashing back.”
By contrast, while some patients received standard treatment, others were asked to alleviate stress by listening to music by Mozart and podcasts about the composer.
Within the four week trial, the study published in The Lancet Psychiatry found that those who received the Tetris game treatment (ICTI) had 10 times fewer flashbacks than the other patients.
On top of this, around 70 per cent of people in that group reported having no intrusive memories at all after six months. The treatment was also said to have helped patients tackle post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD).
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Professor Holmes added: “We are delighted to have made a real breakthrough by showing this intervention works. It is far more than just playing Tetris, and while it is simple to use, it’s been a complicated process to refine and develop.
“The intervention focuses on our mental imagery, not words, and is designed to be as gentle, brief and practical as possible to fit into people’s busy lives. We hope to expand our research so it can be put into practise by determining its effectiveness for a broader range of people and scenarios.”
Charlotte Summers, professor of intensive care medicine at the University of Cambridge, also said: “Every day, healthcare workers across the world are recurrently exposed to traumatic events in the course of their work, impacting the mental and physical wellbeing of those who care for us when we are unwell.
“At a time when global healthcare systems remain under intense pressure, the discovery of a scalable digital intervention that promotes the wellbeing of health professionals experiencing work-related traumatic events is an exciting step forward.”
The researchers are now trying to explore ways in which they can test ICTI treatment on a larger scale. Wanting to include more diverse groups, the team is also looking at options for a non-guided version of the classic game.
The study was funded by Wellcome, with its research lead for digital mental health, Tayla McCloud, saying: “These results are impressive for such a simple to use intervention. If we can get similarly strong results in bigger trials, this could have an enormous impact.
“It’s rare to see something so accessible, scalable and adaptable across contexts. It doesn’t require patients to put their trauma into words and even transcends language barriers.”
