Development and early evaluation of the Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan exposure therapy system for combat-related PTSD.
Numerous reports indicate that the growing incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in returning Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) military personnel is creating a significant health care and economic challenge. These findings have served to motivate research on how to better develop and disseminate evidence-based treatments for PTSD. Virtual reality-delivered exposure therapy for PTSD has been previously used with reports of positive outcomes. The current paper will detail the development and early results from use of the Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan exposure therapy system. The system consists of a series of customizable virtual scenarios designed to represent relevant Middle Eastern contexts for exposure therapy, including a city and desert road convoy environment. The process for gathering user-centered design feedback from returning OEF/OIF military personnel and from a system deployed in Iraq (as was needed to iteratively evolve the system) will be discussed, along with a brief summary of results from an open clinical trial using Virtual Iraq with 20 treatment completers, which indicated that 16 no longer met PTSD checklist-military criteria for PTSD after treatment.
Rizzo
Albert Skip
AS
Institute for Creative Technologies, Department of Psychiatry and School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Playa Vista, California 90094, USA. arizzo@usc.edu
Difede
JoAnn
J
Rothbaum
Barbara O
BO
Reger
Greg
G
Spitalnick
Josh
J
Cukor
Judith
J
McLay
Rob
R
D000328:Adult; D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D003201:Computers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D054542:Iraq War, 2003-2011; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012984:Software; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000628:therapy*; D014481:United States; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult