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Virtual Reality Helps PTSD Veterans

Imagine finding yourself in this situation.

Earlier this week, a reporter was escorted down an Iraqi street during the morning call to prayer. There was a marketplace to the right, nondescript buildings down the road and a few pedestrians milling about. Then a helicopter flew overhead, accompanied by the bone-rattling sound of gunfire. The ground shook as a parked car suddenly exploded, apparently blown up by an insurgent's improvised explosive device. Sniper fire popped from the rooftops. Dazed civilians wandered into the reporter's path--though it was unclear whether they were friendlies, or insurgents in disguise poised for an ambush.

The all too common occurrence, as seen in current news reports, was unique in that it didn't happen anywhere close to Bagdhad, but rather on New York City's upper east side. The reporter had experienced one of the scenarios created as part of a newly emerging form of treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.(PTSD).

At research centers such as Cornell and Emory Universities, patients are now using virtual reality helmets to replicate the horrific experience that caused PTSD to emerge in the first place.

A form of "exposure therapy," this treatment follows the theory that PTSD stems from a patient's inability to put a traumatic event behind him or her. Researchers say experiencing the events again helps battle withdrawal from normal life by engaging the person in the traumatic event.

While exposing a trauma patient to the very thing that traumatized him is a controversial method, supporters say it works and has, in fact, long been a standard practice, with new virtual reality technology simply adding more realistic visuals to older imaging techniques.

Read More: A Virtual Iraq