An Immersive Virtual Reality Therapy Application for Iraq War Veterans with PTSD: From Training to Toy to Treatment

Abstract

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is reported to be caused by traumatic events that are outside the range of usual human experiences including (but not limited to) military combat, violent personal assault, being kidnapped or taken hostage and terrorist attacks. Initial data suggests that 1 out of 6 Iraq War veterans are exhibiting symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Virtual Reality (VR) exposure treatment has been used in previous treatments of PTSD patients with reports of positive outcomes. The aim of the current paper is to briefly describe the rationale, design and development of an Iraq War PTSD VR therapy application created from assets that were initially developed for a combat tactical training simulation, which then served as the inspiration for the X-Box game entitled Full Spectrum Warrior.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA432098

Entities

People

  • A. A. Rizzo
  • B. Manson
  • B. Swartout
  • E. Eastlund
  • J. Pair
  • Jonathan Gratch
  • Michael J. Roy
  • P. J. Mcnerney
  • Raymond R. Hill

Organizations

  • University of Southern California

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Case Studies
  • Depression
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Iraqi-War
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Disorders
  • Psychotherapy
  • Simulations
  • Spectra
  • Tactical Training
  • Training
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Virtual Reality
  • War

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Mental Health of Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Risk Factors, Prevalence, Symptoms, and Treatment.
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation