I guess it kinda makes sense that Tetris could interrupt the brain from developing PTSD, it definitely interrupted my childhood for a few solid months at a time: (h/t Tim F.)
These results support Holmes’s theory that Tetris can help to prevent PTSD flashbacks by occupying the brain’s energies during the narrow time window when traumatic memories are consolidated. …snip…
But EMDR is only used to treat PTSD and there are several ways of doing that. Holmes’s goal is more proactive – she wants to find ways of preventing the symptoms from appearing in the first place. There are a few potential options for doing that, from drugs to psychotherapy, but few can be delivered so quickly or cheaply as a quick game of Tetris on a handheld machine. The game has another big advantage in that it affects a person’s reactions to an event but not their actual memories of it – Holmes notes that they would feel relief, but their ability to, say, testify in court wouldn’t be diminished.
Yes, I just downloaded the version that’s available in the App Store. What an easy preventative to make available for people — pretty much everyone has a cell phone, especially troops in combat. Doesn’t take much processing power or graphics to run Tetris!