A service member puts on a headset with a screen for each eye.He’s given a joystick that’s built with low-frequency vibrations and sounds, mirroring the vehicle he drove while on the battlefield. As he navigates through the virtual combat world, his head movements are tracked with an orientation system. Pre-fabricated smells mimicking burning rubber and weapons firing are released into the air, and the service member ventures into virtual war.

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Renae Kleckner

This is the new Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) being studied by National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center. T2 is currently researching this therapy, which places service members face-to-face with their unique experiences on the battlefield to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to help service members process memories. Once the study is completed, this unique treatment will be offered to service members and veterans.

“The whole treatment is customized to their memory, down to the day, time, weather conditions, location in the convoy and the combat stimuli themselves,” said Dr. Greg Reger, T2 lead psychologist. “The purpose is to activate the experience to increase emotional engagement, so they can process that memory.”

The study reviews the effectiveness of VRET by comparing it to prolonged exposure therapy. T2 conducted the trial based on growing evidence that VRET is an effective treatment for PTSD and because this form of therapy may help reach service members who might otherwise avoid traditional talk therapies because of perceived stigma. (more…)