Virtual reality being used to help military veterans cope with PTSD (WEAR) TOPICS: PTSD Veterans Virtual reality Treatment Symptoms Therapy VA Medication PENSACOLA, Fla. (WEAR) — Post-traumatic stress disorder impacts million of Americans and veterans.
The VA says two out of 10 veterans will suffer from PTSD at some point in their military career. Medication and therapy are the most common treatments, but over the last few years, virtual reality has grown to be an effective choice.
The VR goggles are designed to immerse people in a whole new world.
Elizabeth Williams is an innovations specialist with the VA. She says more than 100 veterans on the Gulf Coast in Florida are using VR to cope with their symptoms. We have clinicians that are using it for in vivo exposure, phobia-based therapies with their clinicians," she said. "That could involve putting them in an environment that they have a fear of and they can process that fear with their clinician." Timothy Chandler served as a U.S. Marine for 16 years. He, like millions of other vets, lives with PTSD.
He said he started noticing symptoms after his team was hit with an IED in Fallujah.
"I started getting more and more angry and I didn’t know why I couldn’t control it," Chandler said. "In Iraq, I was just angry just for life. Then I started having the nightmares and the coping problems and I just wasn’t the same person."
He was officially diagnosed with PTSD after his second deployment and was medically retired from service.
"Once I got home it took me a while to recover from those invisible wounds," he said. "But when I did, I wanted to help others."
Chandler said virtual reality was one of the most impactful treatments he’s had. It changed his life."I had to be me again. I have kids and they want to go to theme parks and they want to go to different places," he said. "I couldn’t be the guy that says, ‘No I’m not able to do that with you.’ It’s effective to take it to those places where you can pull it out of the bag […]
Virtual reality being used to help military veterans cope with PTSD
