Hi Bradeck, I don't usually comment on my own articles, but I wanted to address your concerns about Virtual Iraq and the article as a whole.
As I quoted Dr. Rizzo in the article, there are disadvantages and dangers to using video games to "self treat" PTSD. What this article is about is how some people, both officially and unofficially, are getting (or feel they're getting) a benefit from using experience simulation as a way to help confront personal trauma and be able to talk about it with a psychological professional. That's not to say the approach will work for everyone- no treatment does- and I'm certainly not suggesting that someone can heal PTSD just by playing games.
I also wanted to talk about the "80% success rate" statistic. If you want to know how the Virtual Iraq team arrived at these numbers, you can read the published papers under the "Publications" tab here: http://ict.usc.edu/people/400
There are a few things to remember when talking about the 80% statistic. First, the statistic only includes those who complete the program, and does not count dropouts or no-shows, which are very prevalent- as you yourself know, it's not easy facing these things. It could be that the high attrition rate weeds out participants who aren't getting any benefit from the program, or it could be that those participants would have gained a remission of their symptoms had they finished, we don't know, all we know is that 80% of the people that finish the program no longer present symptoms. They are not necessarily "cured," and will never have problems again, but as of the time of assessment, they don't present symptoms and therefore no longer meet the medical definition of suffering from PTSD. Those six weeks are also extremely intense, involving three multi-hour appointments a week, so it's not a casual endeavor and involves a lot of talk therapy, which is where the majority of the benefit comes from- Virtual Iraq is a tool that assists vets in confronting and discussing their experiences, not a cure-all magic bullet.
I know it seems backward that exposure to reminders of trauma can actually be beneficial if done in the correct environment, but unfortunately in order to process negative feelings, one actually has to confront and feel them. This may mean that some patients undergoing treatment will see their symptoms get worse for a short period before getting better, as they deal with the unresolved emotions that have been buried beneath the surface. While looking for veterans to interview for this article, I met a lot of them who aren't able to play military shooters anymore because of PTSD symptoms and told me stories similar to yours. Unfortunately, they all declined to be interviewed. For what it's worth though, the 20% of participants in Virtual Iraq whose symptoms weren't eliminated reported neither a positive nor negative change in their symptoms.
Thanks for being open and joining the discussion. As far as I'm concerned, there needs to be a national discussion about how best we can help our veterans confront the many issues they face returning from war- from PTSD to veteran unemployment- and I hope this can be a small part of that conversation.
Thank you for your service.
