Treating Traumatic Stress with Videogames

garzpacho writes "Doctors at the Virtual Reality Medical Center are using VR video games to treat post-traumatic stress disorder among vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The software behind the treatment incorporates elements from the military training video game Full Spectrum Warrior, and had some input from designers of America's Army. From the article: 'Dr. Dennis Wood takes patients on what some might consider an odd journey. He starts off leading them to a military compound in Fallujah, Iraq. He then guides them through an Iraqi marketplace before they accompany a patrol through Iraqi homes. And if he thinks they're up to it, he may even take them onto a battlefield, in the midst of explosions and aircraft flying overhead.'"

Move over Janov, let propranolol take a load off

[Baldrson]

Imagine a drug that could obviate post traumatic stress disorder and Arthur Janov's Primal Therapy. Then imagine a drug that could reduce the emotional impact of sermons about Hell you've heard or of movies you've seen -- movies like "Deliverance" or "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". It has a name and it's "propranolol [harvardmagazine.com]".

The oldest new in the Business: /.

[smvp6459]

http://www.primidi.com/2005/03/27.html [primidi.com]

Re:Similar Treatments

[Anonymous Coward]

My wife was recently diagnosed with MS.

I am truly sorry about that. My best hopes and wishes go out to you and her. You might want to consider additional [newscientist.com] treatments [nationalmssociety.org].

Again, all my hopes and wishes that you both are able to weather that one shitting disease.

Well that explains a few things....

[Anonymous Coward]

So that explains why I was able to survive such a fucked up childhood. I played Nes/Snes/Genesis/N64/Playstation and eventually got a computer, which I also played games on. Or mabye I always knew that and I also knew the only use of a scientist is to ramrod their facts down other people's thoughts via a bridge of trust between an "expert" and a "dipshit who believes said expert".

Games take your mind off of reality and allows existance in a safe place for awhile; if that place is not safe then it is indeed it does the exact oppisite. More importantly, it's an exercise of the mind; so those who go through traumatic times go to their happy place, kill virtual people, then get smarter by thinking about that, then come out the other side of the hell smarter and better able to cope by being able to form complete abstract coping mechanisms.

In this instance, gaming changes the nature of your memory. Memory is 3 parts; what actually happened, interpretation then, and interpretation now. A child being thoroughly rejected by society may, at the time, be traumatic and result in a hit-list mentality for coping, but after the fact, if you form the opinion of "if your parents decided never to trust you, be intamate with you, or even include you in their non-existant social life, what then?". You then interpretet he memory from "you bunch of assholes" to "goddamn do I hate my parents." to "Well, I'm not a bad evil person, they are, so I can probably still find people to be friends with and still have a good time." to "I forgive you ma n' pa".

So, it brainwashes you to think your buddies can respawn on a subconscious level. It's a brainwashing of choice, and so long as you remember previous states of memory, it isn't a complete brainwash but it does allow for coping.

That said, I love the gaming clans I'v been in that have been made up of soldiers! Classiest guys I'v ever met.