Finding Calm After Sexual Trauma: Gaming
The intrusive thoughts and flashbacks that can follow victimization via sexual violence (assault or abuse) can range from mildly disruptive to overwhelming, depending on a the type of healing and recovery journeys. As victimized persons, many of us are familiar with the challenges of realizing post-traumatic symptoms. What can be difficult is understanding the symptoms and having access to practical, healthy tools that help us to better manage them in a way that empowers us have improved wellness.
Achieving and maintaining emotional stability is an important part of our respective healing and recovery journeys. Stability doesn’t mean we will never experience painful thoughts, emotions, or memories again. Instead, it means learning how to respond to them in ways that prevent them from controlling our lives. Regaining that sense of control requires developing healthy coping strategies and using tools that allow our minds to rest, recover, and build resilience.
One tool that may help reduce the frequency or intensity of intrusive memories is playing a video game like Tetris. The game requires focused attention in order to rotate and position falling blocks under time constraints, engaging the brain's visuospatial working memory. Research suggests that this type of mental activity may help minimize the brain's storage of traumatic visual memories, potentially reducing the occurrence of intrusive flashbacks. According to research from the University of Oxford, Tetris may be especially effective when played within 20 minutes of a traumatic event. There are additional studies that also explore the potential benefits of these type of games at later points in the recovery journey.
Images of (like) games that some research suggests may help calm post-traumatic event symptoms.
It is important to remember that tools like Tetris, Block Crush, or Color Slide - Hexa Puzzle are not treatments and should never replace care from qualified mental health professionals. Instead, they can serve as one practical coping strategy that may provide temporary relief during moments of distress. Even small moments of relief can help regulate the nervous system, restore a sense of control, and create the mental and emotional space needed to move forward rather than feeling stuck or hopeless.
As victimized persons who choose to live beyond the trauma of sexual assault or sexual abuse, we deserve access to resources that support our individual healing and recovery. The more we understand the tools available to us, the more empowered we become to manage post-traumatic symptoms and care for our mental health. Explore strategies that resonate with you, discuss them with your mental health provider (if you have one), and don't hesitate to learn more bout trauma-informed coping tools. Every step we take to care for our own well-being is a meaningful investment in our recovery, resilience, and future.
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