A Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy Application for Iraq War Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is reported to be caused by traumatic events that are outside the range of usual human experiences including (but not limited to) military combat, violent personal assault, being kidnapped or taken hostage and terrorist attacks. Initial data suggests that 1 out of 6 Iraq War veterans are exhibiting symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Virtual Reality (VR) exposure treatment has been used in previous treatments of PTSD patients with reports of positive outcomes. The aim of the current paper is to present the rationale, technical specifications, application features and user-centered design process for the development of a Virtual Iraq PTSD VR therapy application. The VR treatment environment is being created via the recycling of virtual graphic assets that were initially built for the U.S. Army-funded combat tactical simulation scenario and commercially successful X-Box game, Full Spectrum Warrior, in addition to other available and newly created assets. Thus far we have created a series of customizable virtual scenarios designed to represent relevant contexts for exposure therapy to be conducted in VR, including a city and desert road convoy environment. User-Centered tests with the application are currently underway at the Naval Medical Center-San Diego and within an Army Combat Stress Control Team in Iraq with clinical trials scheduled to commence in February 2006.

[1]  B. Rothbaum,et al.  Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for PTSD Vietnam Veterans: A Case Study , 1999, Journal of traumatic stress.

[2]  N Laor,et al.  The Function of Image Control in the Psychophysiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder , 1998, Journal of traumatic stress.

[3]  A. Morral,et al.  Influence of emotional engagement and habituation on exposure therapy for PTSD. , 1998, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[4]  B. Rothbaum,et al.  Exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. , 2002, American journal of psychotherapy.

[5]  Albert A. Rizzo,et al.  Analysis of assets for virtual reality applications in neuropsychology , 2004 .

[6]  Brenda K. Wiederhold,et al.  Virtual reality therapy for anxiety disorders: Advances in evaluation and treatment. , 2005 .

[7]  Roberto Ierusalimschy,et al.  Lua—An Extensible Extension Language , 1996, Softw. Pract. Exp..

[8]  B. Rothbaum,et al.  Virtual reality exposure therapy for Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. , 2001, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[9]  Albert Rizzo,et al.  Virtual reality for psychotherapy: Current reality and future possibilities. , 2003 .

[10]  P W Lavori,et al.  Utility of psychophysiological measurement in the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder: results from a Department of Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study. , 1998, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[11]  Hunter G. Hoffman,et al.  Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for World Trade Center Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Report , 2002, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[12]  Anton Treskunov,et al.  The Flatworld Simulation Control Architecture (FSCA): A Framework for Scalable Immersive Visualization Systems , 2006 .

[13]  D A Grayson,et al.  Medical-care costs associated with posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. , 2000, The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry.

[14]  Gerard Jounghyun Kim,et al.  A SWOT Analysis of the Field of Virtual Reality Rehabilitation and Therapy , 2005, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[15]  Robert J. Ursano,et al.  Effective Treatments for PTSD , 2002 .

[16]  Albert Rizzo,et al.  A SWOT Analysis of the Field of Virtual Rehabilitation and Therapy. , 2005 .

[17]  C. Hoge,et al.  Combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health problems and barriers to care. , 2004, U.S. Army Medical Department journal.