Virtual reality provides relief from soldiers' trauma

Virtual reality simulations of combat are helping soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder find relief from their symptoms.

Robert McLay of the US Naval Medical Center in San Diego has preliminary results from a clinical trial comparing virtual reality with standard exposure therapy ? which helps patients relearn their responses to stressful situations by focusing on the traumatic event in a controlled environment.

Soldiers with PTSD either discussed their most traumatic experience over and over while looking at computer-presented images of similar scenes, or were immersed in virtual reality simulations, in which sights, sounds, vibrations and even smells could be tailored to their most traumatic memory.

After nine weeks of treatment involving up to 18 sessions (each 90 minutes long), both groups showed similar reductions in their symptoms. But clear differences emerged when McLay examined them again three months later. By that time, the improvements in the group given traditional exposure therapy had largely disappeared. "But in the virtual reality therapy group the gains continued," McLay says.

Greg Reger of the US Department of Defense's National Center for Telehealth and Technology at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state says that some soldiers "unplug emotionally" to deal with repeated trauma. Virtual reality may help by reactivating the emotional engagement needed for exposure therapy to be effective.

Reger, who is running a similar trial, adds that virtual therapy may also be attractive to soldiers who are reluctant to discuss their feelings, but are comfortable playing video games. "This may well be a more acceptable form of treatment," he says.

McLay described his results this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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