March 25, 2010

Fight post-traumatic stress...

... with Tetris.
[Tetris] employs many of the same areas of the brain - to do with visual processing and coordinating thoughts and actions - that are involved in laying down memories.

"Disrupting those functions by diverting the brain's attention in this crucial six-hour window seems to dampen down the vividness of memory"....

20 comments:

Dustin said...

In other words, students who play Tetris will be scratching their heads during their final exams and in employment when those crucial life lessons from European Philosophy are long forgotten.

I think, therefore... I um.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The philosopher Anthony Grayling points out that we do erase some traumatic memories - ones which are simply too painful to face - naturally, but on the whole it matters tremendously that we should retain our memories, even the bad ones.

Ironically, the trainwreck called the Obama administration (one too painful to face) has made it possible to be covered for traumatic erasures, should we miraculously somehow manage to survive it ;)

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Tea Partiers beware of Tetris ;)

Penny said...

I would have commented sooner, but I was learning how to play Tetris.

Can someone tell me how hard the game is in comparison to the tutorial? Something tells me I need to put off traumatic events for awhile.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It is a time when, even if nets were to guide all consciousness that had been converted to photons and electrons towards coalescing, standalone individuals have not yet been converted into data to the extent that they can form unique components of a larger complex. -

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Try youtube Penny..

I have never played myself.

Aridog said...

In a word, this Ivory Tower theory is a Crock.

There are multiple sensory perceptions from actual severe traumatic experience, not visual representations, that don't defer to "games."

B. F. Skinner, and the operant conditioning chamber, anyone?

I'm not pyschologist. But, where traumatic experience is invovled, I have been there, done that, got the tee-shirt.

Scott said...

It seems like this approach to "treating" PTSD is palliative. It's like treating brain cancer with aspirin. What helps is therapy, so you choose a different path to reacting to the trauma.

natatomic said...

I believe it. Frogger helps combat my clinical depression.

Dustin said...

http://www.firstpersontetris.com/

That's the best tetris iteration, just in case you need to forget that achey breaky heart or like to play tetris.

Seriously, give it a shot if you are good at tetris.

traditionalguy said...

The helpers are here again. Tetris for the first six hours...then we now declare you damaged and force electroshock treatments and thorazine. With helpers like these, no one needs enemies.

marklewin said...

EMDR

Fred4Pres said...

Tetris, the tool to control the masses.

Lem's right, Tea Partiers beware!

Pilgrim in Progress said...

Dang! Now I know why I have forgotten everything I learned in college! I am a victim of big Tetris. My failure to achieve in life is no longer my fault. The makers of Tetris must be held responsible.

Triangle Man said...

It seems like this approach to "treating" PTSD is palliative

TFA says that this is meant to be used immediately after a trauma occurs, not later after PTSD has manifested. Having said that, there have been compelling results of a study of ER patients who have suffered serious trauma showing that administering a beta blocker can prevent later PTSD. I think I would go for the beta blocker over tetris.

Michael in ArchDen said...

Don't forget...Tetris was invented by a Russian. It's all a commie plot!

traditionalguy said...

The Communist intellectual community has indeed spent 80 years in coming up with the "Scientific Knowledge" of how men's minds can be erased and reformed into a Homo-Sovieticus so that the party did not need to exterminate all of them. Therefore, this speculative hypothesis is a natural for a Russian educated mind scientist. The ability to mesmerise and mind-control men and women has been the #1 goal of all Progressives starting with prophet Alinski. That is why Free Speech for anyone but themselves has always been their enemy. Speech boldly expressing truth can break the trance. For example, the Canadians have been entranced into multi-culturalism until they will now riot over a possible speech by a commedienne with a political viewpoint... because that can break the trance. Meanwhile down in Chavez land the last critic with access to media was arrested this week for the crime of speaking.

Phil 314 said...

I'm imagining all of the prior-auth requests now for video games...

And consequently they will dramatically shoot up in price.

kentuckyliz said...

I still have and play my 1989 Super Nintendo Tetris game...but I actually prefer the other version on the cartridge, Dr. Mario.

You have to flip and place falling pills, lining up the colors to make them disappear (and remainder pieces fall). Line up the red, yellow, and blue halves of the pills.

I love that game.

I'm a pillhead!

Be said...

@marklewin: you hit on it! Interesting substitute for me is lace knitting right now, as (live in eastern MA and) can't afford treatment for the moment. There's the geometric visual component combined with repetitive hand activity that soothes. Am finding, too, that am feeling a major sense of accomplishment when have finished a project.