Post-traumatic stress, which is twice as common in women as in men is caused by the experience of a traumatic event. The symptoms are varied: trouble sleeping, depression, feelings of guilt and fearful thoughts. One of the most common symptoms is the recurrence of visual memories of the event that caused PTSD (Post-Traumatic Syndrome).
Today, PTSD is treated primarily with psychotherapy, which seeks to help people understand their bad memories so they can better cope with them. But according to the study researchers, strategies to prevent these memories are limited.
Study author Emily Holmes, from the Council’s Department of Medical Research and Brain Science in the UK, told the Medical News Today website, “Now we have the recommended treatments for PTSD that we can use after the identification of the disease, that is to say at least one month after the traumatic event, but there is a lack of preventive treatments that can be administered earlier”
Previous studies have shown that those who play the video game Tetris four hours after watching videos of a traumatic event were less likely to have unwanted memories. However, Holmes and his colleagues acknowledge that it is unrealistic to expect newly traumatized people to be able to play Tetris within four hours of the event. But the researchers wanted to know if this was still the case 24 hours after the traumatic event.
The researchers carried out two experiments. In the first, they had the 52 participants watch a film of traumatic events. Then, 24 hours after seeing the film, they showed half of the guinea pigs the photos taken from the traumatic film to reactivate their memories. After a 10-minute break, these guinea pigs play Tetris for another 12 minutes. On the other hand, the other half of the participants did not reactivate their memory, nor play Tetris.
For a week afterwards, all participants had to record in a diary the frequency of unwanted memories of the film.
Findings The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, found that participants who reactivated their memories before playing Tetris had fewer bad memories than those who did not.
In fact, a second study confirmed that it was instead a combination of memory reactivation and playing Tetris that led to the fading of bad memories.
Study co-author Ella James told Medical News Today, “Our findings suggest that while people often wish to forget traumatic memories, it may ultimately be beneficial to remember them, at least in the specific conditions, which make them less intrusive. »
Researchers conclude that we need better treatments for mental illness and new ways to prevent and cure them.