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Virtual Reality gear (illustrative photo)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners March 7, 2005 |
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Researchers are offering U.S. veterans of the Iraq war and Israeli survivors of Palestinian suicide bombings a new trauma treatment -- revisiting painful scenes through virtual reality.
New simulation technology and pilot projects for trauma victims were presented Monday, as part of an international three-day conference at the University of Haifa. Virtual reality is a computerized environment created to give people the feeling of being somewhere they're not.
One program will be tested next week on 80 U.S. soldiers who returned from Iraq and have shown symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, including depression and anxiety. The tests will take place at Camp Pendleton and at the San Diego Naval Hospital, both in California, a creator of the program said.
Haifa University researchers, meanwhile, have "recreated" a bus bombing that went off in the city in March 2003, killing 17 people. The team has already tested the program on one witness of that bombing, but said it is too early to tell whether treatment is successful. The Haifa researchers plan to begin a study of more bombing survivors soon.
Naomi Josman, head of the occupational therapy department at Haifa University, said the program allows the patient to make a gradual choice to interact -- or not -- with the explosion, followed by rattling vibration, sirens and people shouting.
Virtual reality was first used to help trauma victims after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. Ten subjects have been treated in a program developed by the University of Washington.
In a video tape shown at a preview of the conference, New York firefighter Steven King, who witnessed the attack on the Twin Towers, said the program has helped him. "I was walking around like a zombie; nothing seemed to matter anymore," King said on the video. "But after (the simulation therapy), I sleep better. I'm well on my way to getting back to the person I was pre-9/11."
In next week's study in California, Iraq war veterans will revisit traumatic scenes with the help of a combat simulation program developed by the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
At the conference, a reporter navigated virtual Iraq with the help of Albert Rizzo, a co-creator of the simulation program.
Over sounds of heavy artillery and machine-gun fire at varying distances, Rizzo introduced sand storms and smoldering humvees before the subject noticed an armed insurgent hiding in an ally. The joystick and goggles tracked the reporter's panicked reactions and uncertain eye movements, projecting them onto the computer screen for the therapists to follow.
The program was initially designed to train combat medics heading to Iraq.
Rizzo said initial data suggest that one out of six returning Iraq war veterans show some signs of post traumatic stress disorder.
Israeli Ministry of Defense officials who attended the conference expressed interest in using simulation therapy for Israeli soldiers as well.
The biggest risk in the new treatment approach is that patients could be traumatized again, said Israeli psychologist Eli Somer, who treats people suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. "By virtue of the disorder, people are hypervigilant, and we need to keep their environments as predictable as possible," he said.
The AP contributed to this report.
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