Playing Tetris, which is one of the most popular video games of all time, immediately after traumatic events seems to reduce flashbacks that plague sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder, are the findings of an Oxford University study. The preliminary results could produce new treatments to prevent flashbacks that are the hallmark of PTSD.

PTSD is often associated with wartime trauma such as being wounded or seeing others injured or killed. Symptoms range from irritability and outbursts of anger to sleep problems, trouble concentrating, extreme alertness and an magnified startle response.

During the research, the Oxford researchers  showed a film to 40 healthy volunteers that included traumatic images of injury from several sources, such as  advertisements on the dangers of drunk driving. After waiting 30 minutes, half the people played Tetris for 10 minutes while the others did nothing. Those who played the game had far fewer flashbacks to the video over the next week.

The researchers believe that recognizing the shapes and moving the colored building blocks around in Tetris competes with the visions of trauma retained in the sensory part of the brain. As a result, it is postulated that sensory memories are interrupted from forming following trauma and reduce the number of flashbacks experienced later on.

The study has shown that in healthy volunteers, playing Tetris in a time window of up to 6 hours following watching the movies, can reduce flashback-type memories without wiping out the ability to make sense of the event.