Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Combat Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Active-Duty Soldiers; Preliminary Data
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1
Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, United States
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2
Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California, United States
Active-duty Service Members returning from deployment are at increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the risk may increase with multiple deployments. Prolonged exposure is one efficacious treatment for PTSD, and includes imaginal exposure as a key component of treatment. This involves confronting and engaging the memory of the index trauma in one’s imagination. Virtual reality (VR) has been explored as a potential augmentation to exposure therapy by increasing emotional engagement, immersion in the trauma memory, and activation of the fear structure. This may be of particular import for active-duty services members who have over-learned emotional detachment behaviors as coping techniques in theater. This presentation will review the rationale for virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) and preliminary clinical outcomes of VRET among active-duty soldiers treated at a military mental-health clinic. At the time of submission, treatment completers (N=11) reported a significant reduction in PTSD symptoms on the PTSD Checklist-Military Version relative to the pre-VRET baseline. Sixty-three-percent reported a clinically meaningful reduction in symptoms. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.
Conference:
Annual CyberTherapy and CyberPsychology 2009 conference, Villa Caramora, Italy, 21 Jun - 23 Jun, 2009.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Oral Presentations
Citation:
Holloway
K,
Reger
GM,
Rizzo
A and
Gahm
GA
(2009). Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Combat Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Active-Duty Soldiers; Preliminary Data.
Front. Neuroeng.
Conference Abstract:
Annual CyberTherapy and CyberPsychology 2009 conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.14.2009.06.043
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Received:
19 Mar 2009;
Published Online:
19 Mar 2009.
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Correspondence:
Kevin Holloway, Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, Ft. Lewis, United States, kshollow@comcast.net