‘Tetris’ helped doctors cope with difficult memories of working in COVID-19 TransPsy: 20 minutes of playing ‘Tetris’ helps forget 90% of traumatic experiences 20:39

A team of intensivists and psychologists from the United Kingdom and Sweden used the popular video game Tetris to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in nurses caring for COVID-19 patients at the height of the pandemic. To work published In the scientific journal Translational Psychiatry.

During the peak of Covid cases, many healthcare workers witnessed many difficult scenes, from patients suffocating to the reaction of relatives and the death of a loved one. In many cases, these memories turned into intrusive images, causing people to relive the trauma.

Previous research has shown that one way to treat people with PTSD is to try to link good memories with traumatic memories so that when a triggering event occurs, the positive images overshadow the negative ones. It turns out that one way to do this is through Tetris.

Using the same method, the researchers asked nurses to recall the most difficult and tragic moments of their practice while playing puzzles. It turns out that Tetris sessions lasting 10 to 20 minutes a day for a month help doctors forget 90% of traumatic experiences, as well as reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and insomnia.

Previous scientists I learnedIt turns out that the human brain can produce cannabinoids on its own to protect against stress.