A "virtual Iraq" simulation that allows soldiers to re-live and confront psychological trauma has produced promising results for the initial handful of patients treated using the system.
The trial of the software, which recreates the sights, smells, sounds and jolts of the battlefield, has now been extended to a few dozen US service personnel who have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since returning from war in Iraq.
The treatment is a more powerful version of imagination therapy, a traditional technique in which a therapist asks a patient to imagine scenarios connected with a traumatic event. With the software technique, patients talk through their trauma with a therapist while wearing goggles that immerse them in a virtual reality battlefield. The therapist can increase the strength of the scenario by adding elements such as roadside bombs or attacks by insurgents.
The trial of the software, which recreates the sights, smells, sounds and jolts of the battlefield, has now been extended to a few dozen US service personnel who have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since returning from war in Iraq.
The treatment is a more powerful version of imagination therapy, a traditional technique in which a therapist asks a patient to imagine scenarios connected with a traumatic event. With the software technique, patients talk through their trauma with a therapist while wearing goggles that immerse them in a virtual reality battlefield. The therapist can increase the strength of the scenario by adding elements such as roadside bombs or attacks by insurgents.
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