War-themed games such as the hugely popular Call of Duty franchise can help former soldiers cope with mental trauma caused by serving on the frontline, a new study has found.

The study, carried out by the New Scientist, found that a group of 98 former military personnel suffered less violent and aggressively themed games when exposed to war-based video game titles prior to sleep. Soldiers who did not play war-themed games reported more violent dreams and a sense of helplessness.

Speaking on the findings Jayne Gackenbach of Grant MacEwen University in Edmonton, Canada stated playing such games offered traumatised soldiers a “threat simulator”  that helped to condition the mind to focus the aggressive brutality of the nightmares into gameplay replication.

Gackenbach added on the soldiers: “They’re taking PlayStation 3s, Xbox 360s and other consoles into the field and playing them all the time. And it turns out, there may be a good reason to let them do that.”

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Via: Gaj-it