A virtual environment for the treatment of chronic combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder.
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.
Hodges
L F
LF
GVU Center, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0280, USA. Hodges@cc.gatech.edu
Rothbaum
B O
BO
Alarcon
R
R
Ready
D
D
Shahar
F
F
Graap
K
K
Pair
J
J
Hebert
P
P
Gotz
D
D
Wills
B
B
Baltzell
D
D