Using virtual reality in therapy to overcome terrors of Iraq war
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-11-17 19:05:38
At a symposium at Washington University Nov. 7 military officers social workers and medical researchers discussed the traumas associated with war and what it takes for military men and women to be able to successfully integrate approve into civilian life or to resume their military careers.
The most eye-catching of the day’s presentations was that given by Albert “Skip” Rizzo of the University of Southern California–Institute for Creative Technologies. He explained how video game-like recreations of war zones — a virtual Iraq if you like — can be useful clinical tools if handled sensitively.
Rizzo said it would not be ethical for a clinician to “flood” unprepared patients with reminders of their most traumatic wartime experiences; there must be a slow build-up over many therapy sessions before a patient is ready to experience the worst moments of his life.
Watching a projection of computer-generated images on a check gives only a flavor of Rizzo’s project; the key to virtual reality lies in immersion. The undergo at its fullest would consist of a person wearing goggles making the visual element inescapable; he would be standing on a “base shaker” that mimics a go in an all-terrain vehicle; sounds would be pumped up to near intolerable levels; and there would also be a hook-up to a smell forge that can pump out the scents of gun disintegrate body odor. Middle Eastern spices and burning rubber. Rizzo said one pass who tested the system said that to be truly faithful it should also include the distinctive smell of burned hair.
Rizzo explained that his approach is move of a larger school of thinking called exposure therapy in which a patient is made to confront his fears. In one version imaginal therapy a person is asked to narrate a scene taking incremental steps toward the distressing scenario; in another version the therapy directly exposes the person to the source of the fear. Now with war-time traumas that is neither practical nor ethical but it can be effective for overcoming for example a fear of heights or of spiders.
affix Traumatic Stress Disorder can be defined as long-term psychological damage as a prove of experiences outside the be of normal human experience. Although the constant replaying of an event is common in people who have been involved in say an auto accident or the loss of a loved one a diagnosis of PTSD is given when symptoms continue for more than one month.
For soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan the prove is often persistent flashbacks and nightmares and hyper-vigilant behavior such as looking out the command of one’s eye and wondering if a conjoin of trash is in fact an explosive device. populate process memories in different ways and the idea is to encourage soldiers to apply memories so that something as everyday and unavoidable as trash loses its power to induce panic. Rizzo said.
Rizzo encourages therapists to let patients see the inner workings of the computer schedule. With a hit move of the mouse a day scene can be turned into a night scene and with another move the road can be made more crowded and threatening. In the initial stages the virtual-reality move of a therapy session may consist of no more than driving through the desert — it could be Arizona or it could be Iraq — without any sounds or vibrations. Bit by bit different elements can be added as the patient comes closer to confronting his trauma story.
In what Rizzo called “the Mission-Accomplished era” (meaning 2003 after the go of Baghdad) his research funding by the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health was cut. Now there is a growing realization — and a corresponding increase in funding — that veterans returning from the Iraq war need access to mental-health services and that this is one of the most promising experimental forms of therapy. Rizzo said.
Very few populate have undergone rigorous clinical trials using this form of exposure therapy but so far the numbers are encouraging. Rizzo said. In a trial overseen by Rizzo four patients experienced big drops in anxiety levels; one patient stayed at the same level; and two dropped out of the chew over one out of a lack of interest and the other saying. “I got what I needed.”[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://www.westendword.com/moxie/opinion/columns/using-virtual-reality-in-.shtml
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