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Virtual reality exposure therapy for combat‐related posttraumatic stress disorder
Author(s) -
Rothbaum Barbara O.,
Rizzo Albert “Skip”,
Difede JoAnn
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05691.x
Subject(s) - virtual reality , posttraumatic stress , virtual reality exposure therapy , exposure therapy , witness , military personnel , psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry , clinical psychology , medicine , computer science , anxiety , political science , artificial intelligence , law , programming language
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic, debilitating, psychological condition that occurs in a subset of individuals who experience or witness life‐threatening traumatic events. PTSD is highly prevalent in those who served in the military. In this paper, we present the underlying theoretical foundations and existing research on virtual reality exposure therapy, a recently emerging treatment for PTSD. Three virtual reality scenarios used to treat PTSD in active duty military and combat veterans and survivors of terrorism are presented: Virtual Vietnam, Virtual Iraq, and Virtual World Trade Center. Preliminary results of ongoing trials are presented.