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(Galatians 4:16)

Doctors to treat PTSD with virtual reality

TACOMA,Wash.-Staff Sgt. Jeff Ebert's entire body flinches as a roadside bomb explodes near his vehicle.Smoke obscures his view. Gunfire rattles around him.This isn't on a road in Iraq but inside a room at Madigan Army Medical Center,where psychologists plan to begin using virtual reality,think immersive video games,to treat post-traumatic stress disorder by recreating the conditions of war.Virtual-reality therapy provides doctors with a tool that uses visual, auditory and thermal cues to set the stage for treatment of veterans with the disorder,
which causes nightmares and flashbacks. It can be so severe that some victims withdraw from society.At Madigan,clinical psychologist Greg Reger hopes to begin offering the treatment later this summer."Just about everybody is affected by their deployment experience,"said Reger,a former Army captain who recently came off active duty after spending a year in Iraq with the 62nd Medical Brigade."The vast majority come home and there's a natural recovery that occurs, but for the significant minority that does need additional help,we do see a number of those individuals here in the clinic."The research is being funded by the Office of Naval Research,
which in 2005 provided $4 million to several groups to examine how virtual reality can help treat PTSD.The disorder affects an estimated 15 percent to 30 percent of Iraq war veterans.
Other research is being conducted in California,Hawaii,and Georgia.The Madigan program, Reger said,received a $200,000 grant for its work...
To read more go to:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20109659
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