![]() The result is that you can still remember and describe what happened but the vivid, detailed images that are most disturbing are less easily triggered. Holmes thinks playing a game that requires visual processing like Tetris forms a “cognitive blockade”, diminishing the strength of the visual component of a trauma memory while it is malleable. They also scored lower on the intrusive memory section of a questionnaire used to diagnose PTSD. Over the following week, the group that had played the game experienced 51 per cent fewer intrusive memories of the traumatising video than the group that hadn’t. Those people who saw the stills then spent 12 minutes playing Tetris while those who hadn’t just sat quietly for 12 minutes. When you warm it up, it becomes malleable and you can start reshaping it,” says Holmes. “It’s a bit like hard plasticine that’s a certain shape. This puts the memory back into the plastic state it was in before it was fully laid down, giving the team an opportunity to modify it. A day later, the participants returned to the lab, where half of them looked at still images from the footage, a task designed to reactivate their memories of the video. “They were clips from public safety videos, for example, so they were designed to stay with you,” says Holmes. The team asked 52 people to watch video footage of distressing events. ![]() But getting the game into a person’s hands immediately after they have been raped, for example, won’t always be practical, so the team tested whether it could still work a day later – after the memory had been consolidated and slept on. In 2009, they showed that playing the game four hours after being exposed to trauma reduced the number of subsequent flashbacks. ![]() Holmes and her colleagues think a dose of Tetris could be the answer. There are effective treatments for people who are diagnosed with PTSD, but nothing currently exists to help prevent people from developing it in the days and weeks after the initial trauma. About 20 per cent of people who have been in a serious car accident are affected by the condition. For example, about half of people who have been raped go on to develop PTSD, as do a number of asylum seekers and people who have been tortured. These intrusive flashbacks are distressing for anyone, but in a proportion of cases they can persist and contribute to PTSD. If an event is particularly traumatic, vivid memories of it can reoccur. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |