title: A virtual environment for the treatment of chronic combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder.
abstract: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most disabling psychopathological conditions affecting the veteran population. An estimated 830,000 U.S. veterans currently have symptoms of chronic combat-related PTSD. No therapeutic approach has proven to be consistently effective in the management of combat-related PTSD. Behavior therapies with an exposure element have proven more effective than most other types of treatment, but a significant number of patients do not seem to benefit from them, possibly because of difficulties imagining, visualizing, or describing their traumatic experiences. In this article, we describe Virtual Vietnam, a set of two virtual environments we have developed for the treatment of combat-related PTSD, and its use as one component of a comprehensive treatment program.
authors.affiliation: GVU Center, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0280, USA. Hodges@cc.gatech.edu
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Hodges
authors.forename: B O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Rothbaum
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alarcon
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ready
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shahar
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Graap
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pair
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hebert
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gotz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wills
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baltzell