All my life I’ve been a gamer. I started way back when on the Atari, progressed to a Nintendo, then Super Nintendo. I’ve owned a Playstation, PS3, XBOX, XBOX 360, Sony PSP, Sony PS Vita, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo 64, and a Nintendo Gamecube. When I was five years old, I was playing Mario Bros with my Dad. He performed an amazing feat; he beat the game without dying. Proud of this accomplishment, he told me that if I did the same thing, that we could go to McDonald’s. So, as a five year old, I did it. I beat Mario Bros without dying. He let me skip the 5th dungeon (world 5-4), as that had the long rotating string of fire, and I always had trouble with that part.
Today, video games are more mainstream than they used to be. It used to be that games were for kids, and you grew out of them. But not in today’s world. Today’s gaming companies focus on people of all walks of life. From the business person to the child. From complex simulations to first person shooters to games that teach you how to spell. But there’s a new audience that should take a look at video games. And that’s…the military?
According to a study done by the British Psychology Society in 2009 and re-presented in 2012, playing repetitive video games (Tetris was used in their study) lessens the impact of many mental disorders, from bipolar disorder, to depression, and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. According to lead researcher Emily Holmes, a professor at Oxford, “the Tetris game had a positive effect.” She goes on to hypothesize that the visual-spatial demands of Tetris disrupt the formation of the mental imagery involved in flashbacks.
While the study was nowhere near exhaustive nor conclusive, it shows positive signs and opens the door for more intriguing possibilities. The initial study was to see if playing a video game in the six hours after a traumatic event (the time it takes the brain to register from short term to long term memory) could prevent the mind as storing a memory as a stress inducer, but more research has shown that playing a game can reduce symptoms even after the event is set into long term memory.
So, having a bad day? Hop on some Farmville. Need a quick pick me up? Try some puzzle solving games. Not a gamer in any sense? Well, the research shows that it’s not necessarily the video game itself, but the distraction that the game causes and the focus it requires. So, try a jigsaw puzzle. Or try your hand at a craft. Anything that requires attention to detail.
For more reading on the subject, check out the article from Scientific American at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tetris-shown-to-lessen-ptsd-and-flashbacks/ . And at Psychology Today at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/heal-your-brain/201203/can-tetris-prevent-ptsd-0 .
Robert J Presswood, Jr – SGT, USA (Ret)
