No, not just any puzzle game will do it: "...Tetris may do just that, but based on Holmes' past research, activities like digital pub quizzes and counting exercises do not." The researchers' current theory is that it's the rapid and vivid visual input of Tetris that essentially out-competes the sensory memory of the traumatic event inside the brain. But of course further research is needed to actually test this theory.
All of these papers - the research in favour, against, cited in the review, and the review itself - have at least one of E.A. Holmes and E.L. James, as authors, and most have both. I'd want to see solid independent replication of this result before giving it too much credence.
Related: recent NYT write-up of VA Hospital study on VR for combat PTSD. What's interesting is that the sting of memory is alleviated by re-immersing the subject back into the offending environment under safe conditions
My ex was obsessed with League of Legends. She'd escape to that game whenever life got tough, though she played it frequently regardless. I can understand how video games in general offer an accessible form of escapism to those who are suffering IRL. I wonder if there is any benefit to it though.
Benefits? It all depends on the type of "gamer" a person is.
Those are in three groups:
- the completionist
- the competitor
- the creator/tester
The first one is all about completing. It could be getting a game to 100%, hunting trophies or achievements, you name it. They aren't usually invested in the competition, unless they have to in order to complete something.
The second one is all about going toe to toe with other players. Think CS:GO competitive gaming. Those are folks who just want to be the best (better than all the rest). For them, it's the first spot on the leaderboard that counts. They are often, but not always, good with communication due to having to communicate quickly and efficiently with other players and/or teammates.
The third one is more of an experimenter. A sort of "gaming scientist", if you will. They don't usually care about completion or the competition. They want to push the boundaries of the game to its limits and sometimes even break the game altogether. Minecraft players are a very good example but even this needs a caveat, since all minecrafters aren't into creating/testing the world of the game. Some complete. Some compete. Creators are those who try to understand the mechanics of a game and build something new on top of it. The best example here would be a Minecraft player who built a functioning computer inside the game. Look it up, it's nuts.
Each of those gives certain benefits that others don't (for instance, the competitors are usually better at making split second decisions and/or thoughtful decisions, depending on the game genre).
Another benefit of gaming, aside from the obvious escapism, is that the players get a better hand-eye coordination. A study I read a few years back said that surgeons who played video games were better with their hand movements than those who did not play regularly.
Yet another benefit could be language learning.
I can attest myself that games in a foreign language will slowly but steadily teach the player words.
For instance: I was born in Poland and didn't know a lick of English. I've been playing games for over 23 years. I learned to write, speak, read, and understand English to the point I speak it better than my native language.
Granted, I game a lot and some people play casually, which changes the efficiency of this claim of mine.
My point is this: games, as much as they are a tool to distract ourselves from the grey life we live, have proven benefits, be it logical thinking, language learning, better hand-eye coordination, you name it.
It's only a question of moderation, because addiction is always a very real possibility.
I had a friend who had a very traumatic childhood and he was constantly playing Tetris. He said he saw the bricks when he closed his eyes. Helped him get through things.
The phenomenon of 'seeing' or imagining Tetris shapes and 'fitting' them around things is known as the 'tetris effect'[0] and is quite common. In my experience you don't need to play Tetris that long to experience it. It's so well known that the Tetris Company named one of their most recent games after it [1].
It's not exactly the same thing, but to this day I hear the Tetris theme whenever I have to do something very stressful (for example, fixing a broken website with the CEO on my back).
I adopted it and now hum it to relax.
Interestingly, I'm pretty high on the aphantasia scale, so maybe it's just my brain's way of playing the "tetris effect."
Have PTSD. Lots of trauma sort, permanent injuries to me and family members. Details not relevant m.
Most days I’m either focused on work. Listening to an audiobook or playing a game.
These help keep thoughts from going dark.
It just has to occupy my attention sufficiently.
Tetris used to work well, but at a certain point I can play well without paying attention. Unless it’s set super hard and that gets old fast.
If it’s a grinding game then I will have audiobook or equivalent going at same time.
Something like civilization 6 or hearthstone keep my mind busy enough that I don’t need anything else.
When possible I’ll try and do something mentally challenging with the kids.
I can usually stop racing thoughts these days. I keep Lorazepam on stand by if i start to lose it.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 32.0 ms ] threadhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28348380/
This is a later study which found Tetris had no effect:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8366629/
Here's a review which cites four papers as supporting the effect of Tetris:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027273581...
All of these papers - the research in favour, against, cited in the review, and the review itself - have at least one of E.A. Holmes and E.L. James, as authors, and most have both. I'd want to see solid independent replication of this result before giving it too much credence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/well/mind/vr-therapy.html
The first one is all about completing. It could be getting a game to 100%, hunting trophies or achievements, you name it. They aren't usually invested in the competition, unless they have to in order to complete something.
The second one is all about going toe to toe with other players. Think CS:GO competitive gaming. Those are folks who just want to be the best (better than all the rest). For them, it's the first spot on the leaderboard that counts. They are often, but not always, good with communication due to having to communicate quickly and efficiently with other players and/or teammates.
The third one is more of an experimenter. A sort of "gaming scientist", if you will. They don't usually care about completion or the competition. They want to push the boundaries of the game to its limits and sometimes even break the game altogether. Minecraft players are a very good example but even this needs a caveat, since all minecrafters aren't into creating/testing the world of the game. Some complete. Some compete. Creators are those who try to understand the mechanics of a game and build something new on top of it. The best example here would be a Minecraft player who built a functioning computer inside the game. Look it up, it's nuts.
Each of those gives certain benefits that others don't (for instance, the competitors are usually better at making split second decisions and/or thoughtful decisions, depending on the game genre).
Another benefit of gaming, aside from the obvious escapism, is that the players get a better hand-eye coordination. A study I read a few years back said that surgeons who played video games were better with their hand movements than those who did not play regularly.
Yet another benefit could be language learning. I can attest myself that games in a foreign language will slowly but steadily teach the player words. For instance: I was born in Poland and didn't know a lick of English. I've been playing games for over 23 years. I learned to write, speak, read, and understand English to the point I speak it better than my native language. Granted, I game a lot and some people play casually, which changes the efficiency of this claim of mine.
My point is this: games, as much as they are a tool to distract ourselves from the grey life we live, have proven benefits, be it logical thinking, language learning, better hand-eye coordination, you name it. It's only a question of moderation, because addiction is always a very real possibility.
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_Effect
I adopted it and now hum it to relax.
Interestingly, I'm pretty high on the aphantasia scale, so maybe it's just my brain's way of playing the "tetris effect."
Most days I’m either focused on work. Listening to an audiobook or playing a game. These help keep thoughts from going dark. It just has to occupy my attention sufficiently.
Tetris used to work well, but at a certain point I can play well without paying attention. Unless it’s set super hard and that gets old fast.
If it’s a grinding game then I will have audiobook or equivalent going at same time. Something like civilization 6 or hearthstone keep my mind busy enough that I don’t need anything else.
When possible I’ll try and do something mentally challenging with the kids.
I can usually stop racing thoughts these days. I keep Lorazepam on stand by if i start to lose it.
When I feel stumped or overwhelmed, it helps me to play a game or two. I use a hand-held Tetris game.
Traumatic memories and especially their after-effects are also systems with many moving parts.