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Tetris for Trauma: A Simple Science-Backed Tool for Helpers

sarahtuckercounsel

Updated: Jan 31




Helping professionals—first responders, healthcare workers, therapists, and others—witness suffering daily. The weight of this exposure accumulates, often leading to burnout, compassion fatigue, or PTSD. While structured debriefing and therapy can help, many trauma-exposed workers don’t have the time, resources, or workplace support to process what they experience.


But what if a simple, research-backed intervention could help mitigate the effects of trauma exposure—without requiring extra time or emotional effort? Enter Tetris—a deceptively simple game with surprising potential for trauma prevention and recovery.


The Science of Tetris and PTSD: How It Works


Researchers have discovered that playing Tetris shortly after a distressing event can disrupt the consolidation of traumatic memories, reducing intrusive thoughts and flashbacks. Since first responders are at a higher risk than the general population for developing PTSD, this low-cost, accessible intervention is especially relevant.


Key Research on Tetris and Trauma


2009: Dr. Emily Holmes and colleagues found that playing Tetris within six hours of viewing distressing images significantly reduced intrusive memories in the following days.

2017: Emergency room patients who had just experienced car accidents played Tetris in the ER. Those who did had fewer PTSD symptoms a week later.

2020: A study explored using Tetris for first responders and frontline healthcare workers, proposing it as a tool for managing cumulative trauma.

2021: Kanstrup and colleagues found that Tetris reduced intrusive memories, supporting its use as a simple, effective intervention for mitigating trauma-related symptoms.


Why Does This Work?


The key mechanism is visuospatial interference—Tetris heavily engages the brain’s visual processing centers, which disrupts the way distressing images get stored in long-term memory.


Think of your brain like a filing cabinet. Traumatic memories often don’t get filed away properly, leaving them scattered across your mental “desk”—which can cause flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, and emotional reactivity. Playing Tetris immediately after a distressing event “interrupts” this storage process, helping the brain file the memory away correctly so it doesn’t keep resurfacing as if it were happening in the present.



Image from the movie Inside Out- two workers looking at "stored memories".
Image from the movie Inside Out- two workers looking at "stored memories".

Practical Recommendations for Individuals and Employers


For Individuals:

If you experience acute stress at work, play Tetris for 20-30 minutes within six hours of the event.

Incorporate Tetris into your end-of-shift routine, even for low-level stress, to prevent cumulative buildup.

If Tetris isn’t available, other visuospatial games (like puzzle or matching games) may have similar benefits.


For Employers:

Make Tetris accessible in break rooms or wellness spaces.

Normalize its use as a proactive trauma-reduction tool, rather than waiting for PTSD symptoms to appear.

Incorporate it into debriefing protocols after major incidents to support immediate emotional processing.


Invisible Labor and the Hidden Costs of Helping Work


Beyond direct trauma exposure, helping professionals engage in invisible labor—the unseen emotional and cognitive work required to stay functional in high-stress environments. This includes:


• Self-regulation after difficult cases (e.g., a police officer seeking therapy after a difficult call).

• Mental load management (e.g., a nurse juggling multiple crises while handling administrative tasks).

• Unpaid emotional labor (e.g., a paramedic comforting a colleague while carrying their own distress).


This behind-the-scenes work is rarely acknowledged but plays a critical role in preventing burnout. The problem? It often happens on employees’ unpaid time. By recognizing invisible labor, employers can proactively integrate tools—like Tetris—that don’t demand extra emotional effort from already overburdened staff. My hope is to build care for the helpers from within the systems in which they are working.


A Call to Action: Small Changes, Big Impact


Trauma-exposed workers carry emotional weight that isn’t always visible. While deep healing requires more than just a game, Tetris offers a simple, affordable, and research-backed tool for protecting mental health.


If you’re a first responder, therapist, or healthcare worker—try playing Tetris as part of your post-shift routine, especially on emotionally heavy days.

If you’re an employer—make tools like this accessible and integrate them into trauma-informed workplace policies.

If you work in a high-stress profession—advocate for policies that acknowledge invisible labor and the real costs of secondary trauma.


Helping work doesn’t have to mean absorbing trauma without support. Sometimes, small, science-backed interventions—like a few minutes of Tetris—can be a step toward sustainability in professions that give so much.


Resources


Holmes, E. A., James, E. L., Coode-Bate, T., & Deeprose, C. (2009). Can playing the computer game “Tetris” reduce the build-up of flashbacks for trauma? A proposal from cognitive science. PLoS ONE, 4(1), e4153. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0004153


Holmes, E. A., Iyadurai, L., & Davies, C. (2017). Reducing intrusive memories of trauma using a visuospatial cognitive interference intervention with inpatient emergency department patients (Tetris-based intervention): A randomized controlled trial. Molecular Psychiatry, 22(4), 537–543. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2016.23


Kanstrup, M., Singh, L., Göransson, K. E., Widoff, J., & Taylor, R. S. (2021). Using the computer game Tetris to reduce symptoms of intrusive memories in a real-world traumatic event. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 72, 101649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2021.101649


Kühn, S., Bobko, Y., Düzel, S., Grittner, U., Schott, B. H., Lindenberger, U., & Gallinat, J. (2020). Trauma, treatment and Tetris: Video gaming increases hippocampal volume in male patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Translational Psychiatry, 10, 124. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-0791-y




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Dave A
Dave A
Jan 30

Wow!! Mind blown!!

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