Playing Tetris Can Help Heal Emotional Trauma, Study Finds

New research has found that playing Tetris can reduce intrusive traumatic memories, with symptoms fading after six months.

By keeping the brain occupied with Tetris, intrusive memories are unable to find a way in, thereby reducing trauma.

The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry and cited from the Euronews website on Friday 20 February 2026, focused on treating intrusive, vivid and unwanted traumatic memories, which are a core symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The therapy, known as Imagery Competing Task Intervention (ICTI), was developed at Uppsala University in Sweden in collaboration with the research body P1vital, and trialled with the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Psychological trauma, such as witnessing an unexpected death or experiencing violence, can trigger intrusive memories that persist for days or years and affect a person’s mental and physical health.

Intrusive memories, commonly known as flashbacks, are involuntary and recurring memories that arise suddenly in the mind, typically as visual images of a traumatic event.

“Even a single brief intrusive memory of past trauma can have a powerful impact on daily life by diverting attention and placing people under the control of unwanted and distressing emotions,” said Emily Holmes, Professor of Psychology at Uppsala University.

She added that by weakening the intrusive aspect of these sensory memories through this brief visual intervention, people experienced fewer flashes of traumatic imagery. The research team focused on healthcare workers who experienced traumatic events in the workplace during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Participants were divided into three groups: the first used the mental intervention, the second listened to classical music, and the third received treatment as usual.

The study found that ICTI significantly reduced intrusive memories from a baseline of 14 per week to one per week after four weeks — ten times fewer than participants in the other groups.