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Therapy for traumatized Iraq vets: “Virtual Iraq”
March 6, 2007
Courtesy University of Reading
and World Science staff
Scientists believe they may have developed just the therapy
for war-weary, traumatized veterans of the Iraq war. A scene from the virtual
Iraq simulation. The recreation uses graphics from a training
game called Full Spectrum Warrior.
(Courtesy University of Reading)
Put them back in Iraq—a simulated version of the ravaged land, that is.
The researchers at University of Reading, U.K. are putting into practice a “virtual Iraq,” developed at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
While the idea might strike some who are unacquainted with the ways
of psychotherapy
as sick, psychologists say it’s no loony scheme. It follows a long tradition of encouraging trauma victims to relive and confront painful memories, in order to
move past them.
The project appears to be “simply a technological enhancement of something that we know works well to help some traumatized people. Not all of them, but many,” Laura
S. Brown—a clinical and forensic psychologist in Seattle, Wash., who wasn’t involved in the project—wrote
in an email.
A “virtual reality” is an imaginary three-dimensional visual world created by a computer, something like a video game,
which surrounds a user. The user typically wears special goggles or a helmet in order to enter this world and interact with objects as if he or she were in it.
The Iraq treatment sees patients talk through their trauma with a therapist while wearing goggles that immerse them in a virtual reality battlefield. The therapist can add smells, sights and sounds. These can include roadside bombs, specific odours such as gunpowder, burning rubber, Iraqi spices and body odour, and specific sounds such as gunfire and helicopters buzzing overhead.
The scheme appears to be an enhancement of a standard, well-researched therapy called Prolonged Exposure, Brown wrote. In this, typically, a client “is asked to read from a detailed script and visualize her/his trauma with the aid and support of the therapist, who assists the client to become relaxed, and thus re-condition the body’s fear mechanisms to not respond to the trauma any longer.”
“Our aim here is not to re-traumatize people, but rather to re-expose them to relevant traumatic events in a graduated way that they can handle,” said Reading’s Albert “Skip” Rizzo. “You want to help people manage their emotional responses... For example, when a car backfires, you want to help a patient get to the point where he doesn’t have a flashback of a gun going off.”
The system lets patients experience combat scenarios in a “low threat” context, the researchers
said, in which his or her exposure is carefully controlled by psychologists. The “fully-immersive” simulation,
they added, has produced promising results for the first handful of patients
treated.
Paul Sharkey, a director of the university’s Visualisation Centre, said the virtual reality software recreates the sights, smells, sounds and jolts of the battlefield. He acknowledged one drawback: “Through asking patients to wear headsets, there is a potential risk of heightening the trauma, as this is akin to putting on a helmet in the
field.”
The investigators are working on ways to avoid using the helmets, he added.
“It is hoped that this will lead to pilot studies with therapists and psychologists to test the efficacy of the approach as a tool for therapy.”
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Scientists believe they may have developed just the therapy to help aid traumatized Iraq war veterans. Put them back in Iraq—in a simulated version of that ravaged land, that is. The researchers at University of Reading, U.K. are putting into practice a “virtual Iraq,” developed at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. While the idea might sound sick to some who are unacquainted with the ways of psychotherapy, psychologists say it’s no loony scheme. It falls in line with a long tradition of encouraging trauma victims to relive and confront painful memories, in order to get past them. The project appears to be “simply a technological enhancement of something that we know works well to help some traumatized people. Not all of them, but many,” wrote Laura S. Brown—a clinical and forensic psychologist in Seattle, Wash., who wasn’t involved in the project—in an email. A “virtual” environment is an imaginary three-dimensional visual world created by a computer, something like a complex video game that surrounds a user. The user typically wears special goggles or a helmet in order to enter this world and interact with objects as if he or she were in it. The virtual reality scheme at Reading seems to be an enhancement of a standard, well-researched therapy called Prolonged Exposure, Brown wrote. In this, typically, a client “is asked to read from a detailed script and visualize her/his trauma with the aid and support of the therapist, who assists the client to become relaxed, and thus re-condition the body’s fear mechanisms to not respond to the trauma any longer.” The Iraq treatment sees patients talk through their trauma with a therapist while wearing goggles that immerse them in a virtual reality battlefield. The therapist can add smells, sights and sounds. These can include roadside bombs, specific odours such as gunpowder, cordite, burning rubber, Iraqi spices and body odour, and specific sounds such as gunfire and helicopters buzzing overhead. “Our aim here is not to re-traumatize people, but rather to re-expose them to relevant traumatic events in a graduated way that they can handle,” said Reading’s Albert “Skip” Rizzo. “You want to help people manage their emotional responses in a way that makes them more functional in their day-to-day lives and relationships. For example, when a car backfires, you want to help a patient get to the point where he doesn’t have a flashback of a gun going off.” The system allows patients to experience combat scenarios in a “low threat” context, the researchers explained, where exposure of the patient is carefully controlled by psychologists. The simulation is “fully-immersive,” they added, and has produced promising results for the first handful of patients treated. Paul Sharkey, a director of the university’s Visualisation Centre, said the virtual reality software recreates the sights, smells, sounds and jolts of the battlefield. He acknowledged one drawback: “Through asking patients to wear headsets, there is a potential risk of heightening the trauma, as this is akin to putting on a helmet in the field,” he said. The invest igators are working on ways to avoid using the helmet technology, he added. “It is hoped that this will lead to pilot studies with therapists and psychologists to test the efficacy of the approach as a tool for therapy,” he said.