User:Matthew

About

Name: Matthew van den Steen

Research on: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders & Virtual Reality

Started: November 2008

Status: Research assignment

Introduction

Whether people go to work, study, or plan their holidays, there is most likely something out there that puts them in an inevitable stressful situation. Despite the fact that most people want to avoid such situations, they can often handle them without any problems or complications. However, it is a whole different story when someone is exposed to a traumatic event beyond the bounds of common, everyday human experiences. In such cases a person can develop a ‘Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ (PTSD). This type of anxiety disorder is very common among military soldiers, but it also affects people who have, for example, been in a motorcycle accident or people who have experienced a natural disaster.

The diagnosis and treatment of a patient suffering from a possible PTSD can be a very long and difficult task. A wide range of possible options for treatment include therapies such as ‘cognitive behavioural therapy’, ‘imaginal exposure therapy’ and ‘eye movement desensitization and reprocessing’ (EMDR). Alternatively, various medicines are available to help patients cope with their disorder.

With the emergence of better and faster technology, various new approaches for several different phobia treatments have been proposed. One such approach is ‘Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy’ (VRET). The use of Virtual Reality enables the patient to interact in a virtual representation of the world. In this world a variety of anxiety-provoking stimuli can be triggered at any time. Because the level of these stimuli can be changed, it is possible to gradually expose the patient to various levels of intensity. Studies have shown promising results. However, the question still remains if the use of VRET also declines the anxiety of people suffering from a PTSD. Key aspects of VRET (such as ‘presence’) may be of importance, but what about the other elements, if any?

Studies have shown that when a therapy lacks to engage the patient emotionally, it will often lead to poor, undesirable results. Facts about both the patient and the whole ordeal need to be present in order to evoke emotions. Due to certain patients either avoiding specific moments of the event, or not being able to express themselves thoroughly, it is often very difficult to gather all of the facts and link them together. In some cases the patient even has an unrealistic view of what might have happened.

Traditional treatment for patients with a PTSD poses several problems while trying to engage the patient emotionally, whereas VRET makes it possible to accomplish this gradually with the help of a set of pre-defined stimuli. It is essential to look at traditional treatment first and see if, for example, VRET can be used to enhance the effects which are currently obtained without the use of Virtual Reality. This research assignment will therefore not only include research on VRET and how Virtual Reality can be used to help people with a PTSD, but also research on traditional treatments and their important elements.